My mother and I raised my neice (we have had her since she was 3mths old) Not to touch, she is now 4 turning 5 in december, and only on no more then 3 occations has she gotten into things, other then that she knows not to touch, and she dosnt :) but its all in what you feel more comfortable with.

As soon as my son could crawl I started teaching him what he could and could not touch. I kept anything dangerous out of reach but taught him not to touch things like the CD's and stereo equipment. As a toddler he always listened when I said "no, don't touch" and now at 6 and 1/2 he is still a very well behaved kid. My daughter on the other hand did not crawl til very late so I didn't need to start early with her, however once she could walk it was like everything she'd been eyeing up was suddenly hers for the taking! She is almost 2 and it takes at least 3 "NO's" before she'll put something down or back away from it! And there is nothing wrong with her hearing because if I ask if she wants somthing to eat she hears it first go! Each child is different and I've had to change things around and put anything valuable away for her, which I didn't have to do with my son. All you can do is make sure your child is safe and that your posessions are safe too!

Your job as a parent  is to guide, teach and keep them safe until they are of age. It is your responsibility to keep them safe and yes, you should tell them that cigarettes is bad and not to be touched by children, but they are children! They are curious by nature and do not have the brain capacity to know consequences. That is like unleashing them at the mall by themselves and saying "well I explained strangers to them so they should know," I would definitely keep stuff that can kill your child out of reach or out of the house.

My son is almost 2 and he is into every thing....  For me it is my fault if I leave something out.. You can tell him not to touch but he thinks I am playing with him.. Mind you there are times when he is toying with me for example tonight he was chewing on the end of a pencil and I told him not to many times... He put a bit of paper up in front of his face so I could not see him chew the pencil.. But of course that did not work...

Most of the time I keep things out of the way because even if I tell him not to touch he may understand me but will touch when I am not looking just to see what it is like anyway... :)

I always said i wasnt moving anything for kids, my own or others. Only for the simple fact that if you move something out of their way you only have to teach them again when you put it back as they get older. Having said that however, i have had to move things around a bit myself. My son, who is 4 now, never touched anything he wasnt supposed to when he was younger (although now is a diff story), but my daughter no matter how much i tell her no, or not to touch, she cant seem to help herself. I have always had my videos and dvd's (and theres alot of them!) on my bookshelf in reach of any child. None of the kids ever touched them...except my daughter. She has EATEN half of the covers on them lol so they have been moved. I guess it comes down to a few things...will it hurt them? how treasured is it? and if it isnt going to hurt them u just dont want it ruined, is it really going to make much difference  move it? Ive had to rethink about not moving stuff myself lol

thats the lazy parents way of leaving their adult things out that they like and tell a child that has barely lived, to DO NOT TOUCH THIS ! and its not the responsibility of a child at 1 2 3 to remember that and empathize with their parent! wrong wrong wrong.

parents have to keep things out of the way of their children thats the parents responsibility.!!

p.s you cant move a kitchen. so teach the child to stay out!

When I had my 1st son (who was a full on baby and later on diagnosed with ADHD) I had all ornaments down and I simply gave him a little smack on the hand with a firm no he soon learnt not to touch ,but i had a plastic wall clock down low and i did allow him to play with it,he learnt that the wall clock was the only thing he could touch he would push it around the floor for hours.But as I had my 3rd and 4th children i was so much busier looking after my other children it was easier for me  just to put ornaments and dangerous things  up .I was so glad when they were all old enough to put all my little treasures out again.

i think that things should be put up out of your childs way like cigarettes and valubles (sp)
there are some things that my son knows not to touch but thats because he has grown up around these certain things, as for sockets and the dishwasher, you can find socket plugs in alot of supermarkets and fridge clips work if you are worried about your child opening the dishwasher (mine is old and not working and my son cant open it)

if my son does get into anything, yeah, its definately my fault for not putting it out of his reach,
hope this helps :)

xx channy

anything that is dangerous or that i dont want my child to touch has to stay out of the way either locked up or way or high , no matter what you say or how many times you say it when they are small they will still touch it , children are curious not naughty they also learn by touching things felling the texture of it smelling it etc,, i say keep it out of the way and still tell them not to touch it but always explain why because one day it will set in ....

its not safe to leave anything unsafe arround , small things will also be put into their mouths ..its not changing your life by doing this it could be saving the life of your child by not having it arround

Ladies. I think you have misunderstood my comment. Of course our kids are the main focus of our lives, however we should not change everything about our lives when they come along.  I dont mean that we can do what we like with no concern for them (which is what I think you are assuming of me) because I love my son very much and take the best care of him I can.  But if we change who we are  and all we do in our homes when our kids come along then we are not being true to ourselves now are we!!!!!!!!

Did not mean to get your backs up

Kastol

Everything that be harmful goes up and out of the way, but I've left the ornaments where they are.

I think you have to do both.  You have to protect you child, but you also have to teach them not to touch things that don't belong to them.  Because, let's face it, not every home is childproof, and if you don't teach them at your home, you won't be able to take them any where.

We have had a couple of picture boxes broken, but now that my son is two, if he breaks something that he knows he's not supposed to touch, then I take away one of his toys.  I've only had to do this twice.  He doesn't like being without his favourite toys, and I think the punishment should fit the crime as much as possible.

Do what works for your child and try not to worry about what everyone else says.  For as many different children there are in the world, there are just as many opinions.

We learned the hard way to keep harmful things WAAAAAY up high, out of reach.

I had come inside from having a smoke, and got an urgent call of nature.  Popped the cigarette box up on the kitchen table, where he couldnt reach (so I thought).

Came back from the toilet to find my baby sitting on the dining room floor chewing up half a pack of cigarettes.  Urgent trip to the hospital, stomach full of charcoal mixture for the baby, and a stern talking to for me.  I was told that I was a dreadful mother, that Michael could die, and that I should have my baby taken away from me.

Yes children should be taught not to touch from an early age.  I am not in favour of putting precious ornaments or decorations out of reach.  But PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, put the deadly stuff in cupboards way up high.  I left my cigarettes locked in the car glovebox till my children were way past the touchy feely chewy age.

Like, I think that is good advice. I taught my kids not to touch by starting out with everything out of reach and as they grew they were given access to harmless things and taught not to touch. Once they got that concept figured out, then I started introducing the things they genuinely weren't allowed to touch.

I made the mistake of leaving a zippo lighter in my handbag once and my handbag was in reach of my youngest. I went to the toilet and was there for the shortest time humanly possible, and in that time he got hold of the zippo and set fire to the lounge! My fault. I should have either kept my bag out of reach or taken the zippo out of it.

We can't watch our kids every second of every day and it takes only a few seconds for a child to do something disasterous. They need to learn a lot in their first years of life, and I don't think we should expect them to know about everything they can't touch from the moment they see it, especially when they are learning so much through experimentation and exploration. It's just not safe.

I agree with much that has been written. It is our duty to make a child's environment as safe as possible. hat means moving everything that can harm out of reach. Harder to get the older kids to be as vigilant. If it special to you then move it or pack it away for 5 years ... why wiould you risk safety or disappointment?

I should have also added, I don't have a dishwasher but with powerpoints and things they can pull down on themselves, I used to tell her "Uh-Uh, bities" and she seemed to understand that.  I know you don't want to give a tap on the hand but I used to tap her hand when she was near powerpoints even though we had those covers for the exposed power points.  Only did it twice though.  She's 3 now and i have never had a problem with her going near power points since she could crawl.

I made sure I used the same phrase over and over and have hardly smacked my daughter at all because I've always talked to her about things.  "Uh-uh" seems to be the one that works even now, in a firm voice but without yelling it. It stops her in her tracks and gives me enough time to get to her to stop her from doing what she shouldn't be doing.

If it can hurt the child, be used to hurt the child (by a sibling) if its precious or dangerous move it because they dont know the difference. They explore with their hands and mouths, we encourage them to pull and push with their toys and to put things blocks/shapes inside other things and we show them how clever they are when they do it but they can not discern putting a shape/block into something as being different to putting a fork into a power socket, hammering their pegs or hammering your crystal objects so whatever is valuable put up and I mean up out of the way, my sister lost her engagement and wedding rings when her toddler flushed them she thought they were safe on the sink so watch as they get taller complacencey causes injuries or heartache.

i belive in puttimg things up that are harmful to your child .  why aloud a child to harm themself . you work around  your child  as they get they learn  not to touch  driffrent things around the house ,. and that when you put things out  around the house  as they know by then  not to touch your ornaments  .

My eldest son broke one of my porcelain dolls when he was a baby, and I didn't even bother saying anything about it.  I just threw it in the bin and then I moved the rest of them into my bedroom!!! I only had myself to blame.Babies learn by exploring and to him I suppose it was just like another toy for him to play with.  Thanks for reminding me that I will have to move things again very soon.

I always move dangerous things out of my son's reach. If it can break, be put in his mouth or harm him  it is moved out of his reach. There are things that he is learning he is not meant to touch but he will not get hurt in learning this.

 Lexi xxx

To stop yourself saying no touching all the time and to protect your child from danger you should always move AS MUCH dangerous things and things you dont want them touching, out of their reach. Its never a childs fault for playing with things that are within their reach. Its natural curiosity...

Hi There

I am of the opinion that our children have to fit in around our lives.  Ornaments and things that were there should stay there and that our little ones should be tought, however by their very nature they are curious so dangerous things should be kept out of the way but accidents will always happen and if they do we should not blame ourselves or them as they really dont understand fully.  You are also right it seems that if you focus on taking something away they will want it more, that curiousity again EH!!!!!!!!!!

Regards Kastol x

Regards, Karen