# How do you keep your kids off the kitchen counter?



## Mama2Xander (Jul 3, 2004)

Dh suggested a row of spiky nails along the edge








Is there anything a little more, uh, civilized that would accomplish the same thing?


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## Ruthla (Jun 2, 2004)

Barbed wire.









Seriously, how old are your kids? How often are they getting up onto the counters, and what is it they're doing up there?

If you have toddlers who climb just because they can, a baby gate at the doorway to the kitchen might be in order, and only allow the kids into the kitchen while supervised.

If you have school-aged kids who are climbing up to reach things on high shelves, maybe move the stuff they want to lower shelves, so they can get to it without climbing?


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## an_aurora (Jun 2, 2006)

I wish I had a solution, because I would be all over it









We finally put a bike lock on the fridge, but I don't have a solution for the counters. Our #1 priority for our next house is a pantry that locks


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## Mama2Xander (Jul 3, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Ruthla* 
Barbed wire.









Seriously, how old are your kids? How often are they getting up onto the counters, and what is it they're doing up there?

If you have toddlers who climb just because they can, a baby gate at the doorway to the kitchen might be in order, and only allow the kids into the kitchen while supervised.

If you have school-aged kids who are climbing up to reach things on high shelves, maybe move the stuff they want to lower shelves, so they can get to it without climbing?

It's mostly the 2 1/2 year old. He's up there a LOT. Many, many times a day. He helps himself to stuff from the cupboards, rearranges dirty dishes, tries to stir stuff on the stove, you name it. Pretty much anything he shouldn't be doing. The more dangerous, the better, as far as he's concerned!

Unfortunately there is no way to block access to the kitchen. It's very small (we live in an apartment), but there is no "doorway" really. The stove and fridge are opposite each other, and go right to the edge of the kitchen - they are flush with the walls of the hallway - so there is no way to put a gate up. I really don't think a gate would stop him anyway, he's such a climber he'd just climb right over it.


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## mamaof5boys (Mar 6, 2008)

Sorry.... Couldn't help but smile when I read your post!!









Our twins were around 15months old when they started trying to climb on the table and pulling chairs to the counter. We ended up moving all of our kitchen chairs into the basement and eating in our dinning room. When they figured out how to slide those chairs into the kitchen we took a rope and weaved it through all of the chairs. We were able to pull the chair out enough to eat, but they couldn't pull them around the house. We did have a period when they would pull cupboards open to reach stuff on the counter, so we had to lock the cabinets up!

I like your DH's idea!!! Sounds like something my DH would say!


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## Mama2Xander (Jul 3, 2004)

He doesn't even use a chair! Just hauls himself right up there! The bottom cupboards ARE locked! lol

I was hoping it was just a phase but he's been doing this for several months now... argh


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## LittleBlessings (May 26, 2008)

I am in the same boat


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## Kim Allen (Jun 28, 2008)

ohh i like your dh's idea!! Probably will work the best but eh what would everyone say huh? lol My Ds is 2 and since proabbly 18 months has pushed kitchen chairs to anything he wants. Actually the chairs sat on the table all the time except for when eating. Everyone that comes over always ask if i have been mopping (then they look at my foor and reliaze that was a dumb question







) Anyways i dont know what i am going to do when he no longer uses the chairs but i can sympathis the whole "playing in dirty dishes and grabbing everything in sight."

Oh a btw the lock things for the doors...ya they didnt last a mintue. he watched us install them and after they was all installed we stood up to look at our work only to see that Ds "just" discovered how to open them. How can that happen he was only a year old!!! lol


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## Ironica (Sep 11, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mama2Xander* 
Unfortunately there is no way to block access to the kitchen. It's very small (we live in an apartment), but there is no "doorway" really. The stove and fridge are opposite each other, and go right to the edge of the kitchen - they are flush with the walls of the hallway - so there is no way to put a gate up. I really don't think a gate would stop him anyway, he's such a climber he'd just climb right over it.

We had a kitchen with no doorway in our old apartment. We got a ConfigureGate to block access, since it doesn't have to go straight across from one wall to another. Lemme dig up a picture...

Ah-ha! Here's one:
http://photos.boondock.org/i/cp/2649

You can add unlimited panels (though they're pricey, so you wouldn't want to use more than strictly necessary), and there are two sizes. You can adjust the angle between panels in increments of 10 degrees. You can have up to 7 panels in a straight line; more than that, and they recommend introducing at least one angle to help stabilize it. It was rock-solid the way we had it set up.

Though, I have to admit, my first reaction to this question was "Huh?" This just never, ever happened with DS1. The other day, I had to suggest to him that he get a chair and get a cup for himself out of the cupboard, since I was occupied and he wanted water. A couple of times when he was a toddler, I left the stepstool out and he climbed it... one of those times he did pick up my 6" chef's knife from the counter, which was heart-stopping, and the other, he ate the rest of the fresh bread... but both were cases of lapses in supervision + not properly securing the climbing apparatus.

DS2 promises to be more challenging in this respect. I'm making a note of the ideas in this thread.


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## Multimomma (Jan 25, 2008)

Eh, I don't. What I do is encourage them to get what they want and get down safely. One, it gives them some autonomy in getting snacks and cups and such. Two, it saves me from always getting someone something. But that's what's up with having so many little kids, they really can't reach the top shelves until they are nine or ten years old.


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## RunnerDuck (Sep 12, 2003)

Mine primarily climbs up there to sit and watch me when I am cooking.

So I just don't cook much.


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## OkiMom (Nov 21, 2007)

I gave up trying.. I figured Id rather teach her how to do things safely than try to prevent her. She doesn't like being told no, so saying no is like issuing a challenge. Taking her down from some where is like telling her "please, please climb up there and do that again and again and again"


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## Valrock (Nov 10, 2004)

How about one of those retractable mesh gates? Could it be installed on the edges of the two walls behind the fridge and the stove? I'm having a hard time picturing the layout.

My little boy used to be a huge climber. Luckily, he's calmed down a bit with age and I've always lived in a place I could gate off.

The baby is into everything and our house is a maze of gates LOL they're only little once.


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## Mama2Xander (Jul 3, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *RunnerDuck* 
Mine primarily climbs up there to sit and watch me when I am cooking.

So I just don't cook much.

















I'm with you on that one!

I wouldn't mind so much if he was up there for an actual purpose... like getting a snack or a cup, fine... it's the other stuff that's the problem. Like trying to pour the bottle of dish soap down the drain, or stir a pot of boiling macaroni on the stove, yk? At least our place is small, so I am always right nearby, it's just tricky to keep hauling him off the counter while breastfeeding a 16+ pound baby!

About the other gate suggestions - even those don't work, as far as I can see. There is no wall at the edge of the kitchen. The oven goes right to the edge on one side, and the fridge is opposite to it. So as you are walking down the hallway, you walk right by the side of the oven, if that makes sense. But I think he'd just climb right over a gate anyway, probably by climbing up onto the stove (which is completely open on the one side, facing the hallway), yikes. This is a kid who can get up onto the top bunk without using the ladder


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## Ironica (Sep 11, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mama2Xander* 
About the other gate suggestions - even those don't work, as far as I can see. There is no wall at the edge of the kitchen. The oven goes right to the edge on one side, and the fridge is opposite to it. So as you are walking down the hallway, you walk right by the side of the oven, if that makes sense. But I think he'd just climb right over a gate anyway, probably by climbing up onto the stove (which is completely open on the one side, facing the hallway), yikes. This is a kid who can get up onto the top bunk without using the ladder









You *can* do this with the ConfigureGate. But, you should probably look at their HearthGate instead, if it's next to the oven; same thing, but doesn't absorb radiant heat.

What you do is, you attach it to the wall "behind" the oven. I don't mean so that the attachment point is between the wall and the oven, but so that it's sticking out from the wall at a 90 degree angle to the side of the oven. (Picturing what you're describing, I'm thinking that basically, there's a living room wall that ends, and then the next thing is the side of the oven, correct?) So you have one of the short panels coming out from there, then attach the next panel at an angle... 90 degrees, 45 degrees, whatever works. Then the gate or another panel, then the next panel or the gate, then however many panels you need to get to another wall.

You can set up this gate to enclose an area and attach to the *same* wall on both ends. It's that flexible. It's NOT cheap... but it does work.

As for him being able to climb over it... well, if you have a TRU near you, see if they have a KidCo playyard set up. It's the same stuff, basically. Then you can see if he seems inclined to climb over that. At the very least, it gives you a *little* more time to nab him!


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## Mama2Xander (Jul 3, 2004)

Hmm, I'm either not picturing that right, or it wouldn't work... here's some pictures!

http://gallery.me.com/tocrooks#100078

We can't have anything that blocks the hallway off (kids need to be able to get to the bathroom etc) and if I am picturing correctly what you are describing, the gate would take up part of the hallway space? (not block it off completely, but interfere with part of the hallway, which is fairly narrow already)

ETA: the tape on the floor is for karate practice, in case anyone is wondering!
And the spots are just water that DS2 spilled, the carpet isn't actually *that* stained


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## Super~Single~Mama (Sep 23, 2008)

This thread made me laugh! I'm really hoping that when my son is old enough he doesn't do this - but I'm pretty sure he will!

When I was a kid (18 months I think) my older brother was 2 and I was strong enough to pull myself onto the counter and he wasn't - SO basically he was the brains and I was the brawn. Ahh...how much fun my parents had!

I was climbing starting at 10months when my dad found me on top of the kitchen table HANGING from the light above the table. I REALLY hope Lincoln doesn't do that!!


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## Smithie (Dec 4, 2003)

I agree, with that configuration your ds would climb on the stove as part of his gate-scaling strategy.

If I were you, the closer piece of karate tape would be my "line in the sand." No going over that line unless Mom or Dad is in the kitchen, period. Your kitchen is just not toddler-friendly and I'm not seeing any way to make it so.


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## littlemizflava (Oct 8, 2006)

having things they would need on bottom shelf. teaching to look at stove for light showing its hot. not going near the thing when its on. i did it when i was younger and both my kids do it very independent







the safe way is the trick they will do it like it or not.


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## Ironica (Sep 11, 2005)

Hm, I see what you're saying... yes, the gate would protrude into the hall, and you really don't have room for that.

If the only issue is the kitchen counters, then what about getting an extra-wide pressure gate and mounting it from the front of the stove to the front of the fridge when "the kitchen is closed"? Then you take it down when you're in there, but you're also there to supervise and block climbing attempts.


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