I should also clarify with my crews use of stairs ~ stair safety is important to me they learn early that we go up or down one at a time so no one accidentally gets pushed or shoved and has the space to feel confident ... the bigger kids go first and than wait at the top or bottom sitting on the landing until we are all up.

Plus I never enroll more than two children under 2 because of my back and that being my threshold before I get too buggered up again ~ in fact I try to only have one infant at any given time and the other child more toddler age 18 months or so ... so at least three of my crew are always well trained in the stairs leaving me time and hands free spotting for the two 'youngest' who would be in various stages of mastery themselves ... so for example currently I have a 10 month old and an 18 month old and everyone else is well over 2. So than the 18 month old has been with me since he was 8 months old and therefore has been doing stairs since he was 10 months old and crawling adeptly ... so is quite skilled at going up and down on his own and is now in the stage of wanting to 'walk' up and down them holding the rail instead of crawl leaving me the 10 month old to spot ... this strategies are what works for me to remain accident free on the stairs with so many wee ones using them.