Anyone else find that no one teaches their kids to do stairs anymore?

[eoinsmom]

In the last three years I've been in operation I have had only 1 infant out of 7 who crawled or went up/down stairs. Every other kid has never been exposed to stair crawling or had their parents practice this with them....they have stairs in their home but don't do it with their kids. Then they all scream and cry when I start working with them to learn. These kids have all also hated tummy time according to their parents and so the parents just didn't do it...so when it comes to crawling up stairs they have no clue about supporting themselves on their hands. Maybe I was just lucky my boys both took to crawling and climbing stairs without a fight. Is this happening with everyone else's 10-12 mth olds? (I posted before about my 18mth old dcg who still doesn't pull to stand, btw) The rest of my infants have all been about 16 months to start walking and doing stairs somewhat confidently. I have them go through the motion of stairs at least once a day up and down, since my playroom is in basement and we eat upstairs. Anyone else seeing this trend in their dckids?

[Mama W2]

I haven't really had this problem yet. They have all been far too anxious to start. It makes me nervous sometimes. I take them to the park and let them practice on the small set of stairs into the jungle gym. When they have demonstrated to me that they can both up and down on their own, I allow them to go up my stairs. I know it's a frustrating time though (having to carry them). Good luck!

[Sassygirl]

I have all toddlers in my care aged 10-14 months and I work on them daily with the stairs. We work on going UP but not down yet. They climb up them much faster than me taking 3 or 4 trips up one at a time!

[playfelt]

In an attempt to not constrain kids there has been a push in some areas to just teach them no rather than restrict them with gates and fences and playpens. For some kids they have actually been conditioned to not go near the stairs.

[eoinsmom]

maybe that is what's going on lots of these kids don't even go anywhere near the staircase they stay a good four feet away. Thx! I never really was big on stair gates with my own kids either but I just talked and how to do the stairs once they showed interest

[Momof4]

My daycare is my main floor but there are two big huge stairs to go up into my living room, it's a big old house with lots of charm but those two big steps are crazy. The children learn to go up and down by the time they are 14-16 months of age I guess. But I don't have to worry about a whole flight of stairs.

I do have a baby gate there for new little ones under a year old but when I close it they all cry, even the ones who have been here over a year, grrrrrrr, so they have to learn the stairs. I wouldn't be able to leave the gate open if it were a whole flight.