Frida has been able to climb the stairs in our house for a good month or two now. Like almost everything else, it required no active teaching from us, just letting her have the space and time to try – and standing very close behind her in case she fell! Until quite recently she showed no interest whatsoever in learning to go down them.
A couple of weeks ago she suddenly seemed more interested, and without us having to show her what to do she can now go all the way down, safely (and heart-stoppingly fast). We still stand quite close by her in case she slips but so far she seems quite stable.
We haven’t used stair gates in our home at all. We were undecided as to whether or not we should use them, decided it might be a good idea to use one at the top of the stairs, bought one which was faulty, and then decided not to buy another.
This works for our family because at least one parent is always able to supervise Frida actively, meaning she’s never really out of our sight. Our house is not very big which makes this easier!
I like the fact that she has been able to learn how to safely navigate them at a young age, as I feel this means she will be safer in spaces without stair gates. I also love that she can freely navigate around her space. However when Frida moves out of our bedroom and starts moving around on her own at night then we may reconsider putting a gate at the top of the stairs; we’ll have to see what feels right.
