Toddler Ups and Downs

Teaching Tots to Use the Stairs

By Sue Poremba

My mother-in-law liked telling her grandchildren how their father manipulated the stairs. He'd crawl to the stop and slide down them on his belly. I really preferred they try a more conventional method, like Jamie Werner did with her daughter.

"We started our daughter on crawling on our carpeted stairs when she was crawling – with [me] standing behind her," Werner says. "We then moved in to a house with wood stairs when she was 1 year old and walking. We put a gate on the bottom stairs and on the top. She would hold on to the railing with one hand and hold my hand with the other. She never liked the scooting on her stomach. She always wanted to be a big girl and walk. Now, almost 2, she can walk up and down the stairs by herself, with no problem."

Children typically start using the stairs around the time they start walking, according to physical therapist Claire Fishman, doctor of physical therapy at A to Z Pediatric Wellness in Brick, N.J. The average child learns to walk around 12 months old, but this can range from as young as 10 months to 18 months old. Children should be able to negotiate stairs in the home independently in a reciprocal pattern by 3 years of age, she says.

"When it comes to toddlers climbing stairs, you must ask what comes first, the belly or the bottom?" says Joan Bramsch, author of the e-book Teach Me, I'm Yours. "It's been my experience to encourage belly climbing first."

Fishman agrees. "Toddlers should begin to practice climbing up and down the stairs on their hands and knees once they are proficient at crawling on hands and knees," she says. "As he/she ascends the stairs, he/she should crawl forward toward the top of the stairs. To descend, prompt your child to crawl down the stairs feet first on his/her tummy. I always teach the parents I work with to tell their child, 'Down on your tummy' before and during the climb down the stairs. I feel that combining verbal prompts/cuing with the activity will help to drive home that the child moves down the stairs feet first and never head first – just in case he/she should ever get around the safety gates on your stairs."

Want to see more?

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• Top 10 Toddler Milestones: Steps in Your Child's Development
• Having a Ball: Child Development Through Play
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