Room to roam in the house, what's yours aloud to do?

[AlwaysPraying]

My guy is 1 and walking. Our house is two stories with an upstairs and basement. We spend 90% of the time in the main floor living room. Our main floor is all open, living room, kitchen, eating area. So I can see him from anywhere. We have the couches set up so he's fully contained in the living room. I fuss a lot in the kitchen while he's playing and it's been working so well.

I've noticed since he's begun walking a couple weeks ago, the living room just isn't cutting it! It's too small for him, and he wants to wander around the rest of the house more. But if I do that I have to constantly watch him. Between the drawers, doors, floors, dog food, garbage cans, etc, there's so much for him to get in trouble with.

If we open up the living room for him to walk freely all he wants to do is go in the kitchen. Yes, I can certainly baby proof more, we have quite a bit done already, but not 100%. Still, if I did that, I'd still have to be on his heels with every step. It's just nice with him enclosed in the living room where we can talk and see each other and I can do some chores, cooking and work on the computer.

I'm wondering how other moms do it? Do you just let them figure it out? Do you play with them every moment they are up? Sometimes I feel slack for not being with him when he's awake, but our system works well, he can be free, play and we still see each other, sing, watch some tv, and talk. Don't get me wrong, I do spend a lot of time with him in the living room too!

Does my quesiton even make sense?

 

[RachA]

I basically have a stair gate at the top and bottom of the stairs. When I am downstairs I keep the gate shut. I also keep our dinning room door shut (because if I don't all the booms come off the boom shelf!). LO is free to roam the hallway and lounge. I also have a stair gate across our kitchen because we have a dog who I don't want in the lounge! I keep that shut but the kitchen door open. LO wanders around, 'talks' to the dog, plays with her toys and yes gets into trouble with anything I forget to put away lol

I have always preferred to let them wander-if you move as much as you can they actually get on much better than following them round telling them no you can't touch that etc.

IRO being with them every waking moment-no I'm not. There are things that I need to get done even though lo is awake so I let her get on and play while I do them. They need to learn to amuse themselves.

 

[purpledahlia]

I live in a flat so slightly different, but basically just have a stairgate at the kitchen and i keep the bathroom door closed. She has free reign of living room, her room, and then my bedroom.

 

[_Vicky_]

*sigh* this is my issue too I just can't be in two places at once ARgh!!!!!! I figure once they are a bit older it will be easier

We have stair gates on lounge an top bottom stairs and kitchen they get lounge dining room and hall or all upstairs I'd we are up there. I just keep running lol

 

[Windmills]

I live in a flat so it's easy, just keep my bedroom door and bathroom door closed and she's allowed to run anywhere else. My bedroom is shut because there are cases stacked inside the wardrobe and I'm worried they'll fall on her, otherwise she'd be allowed in there too.

 

[lalitas charm]

DD can open doors and that opened a whole new can of worms in my house!! We've put stair gates up on our living room to kitchen door so she has the run of the living room and dining room. She gets to wander the rest of the house if I'm going out of those rooms and boy does she take advantage of that!! She's like lightning Zipping up the stairs, into my bedroom and trailing out my jewellery! lol But if I'm in the living room she's content to stay there

ETA - stair gates come off our stairs all the time, we can't work out why so we've given up as I nearly fell down the stairs while carrying DD a few months ago, so we are just careful to make sure we know where she is at all times and accompany her on her jaunts up and down the stairs.

 

[lauzliddle]

We used to have a gate on the sitting room door only allowing them in the sitting room. Now though we have put the gates on the top and bottom of the stairs as they started to always be crying at the gate if I went out the room. So now they have all the upstairs when we are up there. And all of the downstairs if I am in the kitchen, but if imam in the sitting room the kitchen gets locked and they only have the hall and sitting room.

Our kitchen needs more baby proofing as Molly touches everything she is not aloud to.

 

[BethK]

We've got a gate at the kitchen door, bottom and top of stairs.

LO can play in the kitchen, dining room and conservatory. It's a bit of a nightmare as the cat food bowls are in the conservatory as is the litter tray but i just keep an eye on her.

 

[hattiehippo]

We have stairgates on the top and bottom of the stairs and the kitchen door but that 1 is only shut if I'm cooking. Tom has free reign of the lounge/dining room, conservatory, halll and kitchen normally downstairs and all upstairs when we go up. We've babyproofed where needed and the rest its either put it out of reach or live with him moving things around. TBH he learnt pretty quickly what was ok to touch and he now brings us things to put out of reach if we've forgotten to put them away!

 

[Bexx]

We live in a bungalow so don't have the stairs issue. It does mean there is easy access to all the bedrooms and bathrooms though, so those doors have to be kept shut.

Zachary is allowed to to access the hall and go into the lounge, nursery and diner sub-section of the kitchen. Part of the kitchen counter extends into the middle of the room, so we have a stairgate from there to the wall so he can't get to the appliances or cupboards. We have a utility room beyond, but he can't get anywhere near that door.

We have a large dining room but it's where we store all the crap we can't fit in the loft lol. So Zachary is only allowed in there at mealtimes or when closely supervised.

We also have a stairgate blocking off part of the hall near the front door as there's a top-heavy coat/hat stand in that area, plus a couple of pot plants and room to leave our shoes.

 

[amie-leigh]

we live in a flat so a bit different but i have always kept the bathroom and kitchen door shut unless i am in there and my bedroom door shut because it is a bit of a junk room just now so its safer but she can go into her room, the hallway and the living room as she pleases

 

[rihanna]

we have a gate at top and bottom of the staires. Otherwise he roams wherever he wants!! We have cupboard locks on cupboards out if bounds, drawer locks on the ones we dont want him in and a fire guard on the coal fire. so alll is ok

 

[MrsVenn]

Staircases and locks on all cupboards, Molly is allowed to do whatever she likes and has free reign.

 

[Celesse]

We are in a flat. I have gate in front of the kitchen so she can't get in and gate in front of her bedroom, so she can't out if we need to contain her. Access to my bedroom, bathroom and hallway from living room can be limited by shutting the door if we need to. Mostly she has free run of the house minus the kitchen.

 

[freckleonear]

Tabitha has always had free access to the entire house, including the stairs since well before a year. The kitchen isn't a problem as she has always understood that the oven is hot, so the only time I use the baby gate is if I'm really busy cooking and both children are getting under my feet (we have a tiny kitchen). She's happy to potter around and play by herself or with Aaron lots of the time.

 

[Jchihuahua]

We have a stairgate on the top and bottom of the stairs and keep the bathroom door closed but otherwise she is free to roam as she pleases upstairs. Downstairs we have a dog gate between the living room and kitchen so she is only allowed in the kitchen if we are in there.

 

[Pink Flowers]

I have a stair gate on his bed room door as he goes in there and throws everything thing around lol, Our bedroom door is closed and then he gets run of the living room and landing. The kitchen is just off the living room and has glass panels in the door so i can see what he is doing most times.

 

[v2007]

Katie roams all over.

From the garden to the bedrooms.

She uses the stairs via her bum and she stays out of the cupboards.

V xxx

 

[beatnick]

we have a "family room" which means we have a kitchen and sitting room together and an upstairs lounge. he is contained in the family room and when on the top floor i shut the stair gate and he has the run of the landing,

sometimes wish it was all on one floor so he could bugger off and play!

 

[Aunty E]

We have a baby gate across the living room door and she's not allowed anywhere else. She's never allowed to play in the rest of the house as it would be a total nightmare. Her room is also safe and secure, so she's allowed to play in there in the mornings before we all get up. I don't play with her all day, she mostly plays by herself with me in the room engaging when she wants me to.