Conference moira::parenting

    Our daughter was a year old at xmas last year. She touched it 1 time
    and pricked her finger on the needles and never touched it again.
    We were lucky I guess, that she didn't fiddle with the tree. 
    My brother on the other hand did what you described, by not putting
    ornaments below half way, their child still messed with it.
    
    So I don't think decorating the tree half way will help much, if your
    going to decorate it you might as well go all the way. 
    Let her touch it once and pick her finger...maybe it will work for you
    like it did us. Explain to her that if she touches it she will get a
    "boo boo"on her finger.
    
    Sandy

    You might consider mounting a plant hanger hook in the ceiling and
    tieing the tree top to the hook to prevent the tree from falling *when*
    (not if) your child decides to pull an ornament off.
    
    Jim

    Marisa was 18 months old last year. We decorated the bottom
    half of the tree with non-breakable ornaments. She touched once or
    twice but generally left it alone.
    
    Donna 

    
    
    I just took my son to the Pedi this morning for
    his 15 month check up.
    
    One of the questions the Pedi asked me this morning
    if we were planning to have a Christmas tree.  She
    suggested that we anchor the tree somehow to the 
    wall, use unbreakable decorations on the bottom half
    of the tree, and she suggested not putting the lights
    on the bottom branches.  She said it won't look as
    nice, but then you won't have to worry as much either.
    
    Not sure if I liked the idea about the lights, but we
    already have planned to do the first two suggestions.
    
    Jeanne
    

    We always fasten our tree to the wall in a couple of inconspicuous
    places.  Either decorate halfway down, or put all the unbreakable
    stuff at the bottom.  I have heard of people who put their tree in a
    playpen, but I should think it would be a hassle to water it every day
    (if you have a live tree).  How about a smaller, table-top tree?  I
    know it's not the same, but if it means you won't be spending the next
    three weeks saying "no," "stop," "leave it alone," "DAMMIT!", etc.,
    then it may be worth the sacrifice.
    
    I wonder how my daughter is going to react to the tree this year.
    She'll be 18 mos. on Christmas Eve.  

	Sure, leave the bottom half bare.  When the kids are old enough to 
help you decorate, the top half is bare, and all the ornaments are on the 
bottom!   :^)

Clay

	This note reminded me of something that happened to me as
	a toddler/young child.  I was walking by the Christmas
	tree minding my own business and knocked it over!  I had 
	very long hair which, apparently, had a lot of static at
	the time.  My hair took hold of the tree and down it came.
	Fortunately, it did not fall on me.	

	Definitely anchor the tree.  We tie two heavy strings to the mid
	section of the tree and attach the strings to something stable
	on each side of the tree (like a hook in the wall).

	We also situated the tree behind a couch and used gates so that 
	it was not easily accessible.  Come Christmas day, we just moved the 
	couch away.  I think we also decided against window candles because
	we did not want our daughter playing with all the exposed extension 
	cords.  I think we'll do without window candles again, this year.

	My daughter was one last year at Christmas time.  She was fascinated
	by the tree and ornaments but was very cautious when near the tree and 
	very gentle when touching the ornaments.

    I bought wooden ornaments for the bottom of our tree, and hung them
    with small pieces of elastic - no hooks.  I also put the light string
    on the inside branches so there would be some light at the bottom, but
    not close enough for my son's little arms to reach.  Also anchored the
    tree, but that was more for the cats that for my son.  Served both
    purposes, since I had trouble keeping the cats out of the tree, and it
    kept the tree from falling over on my son when he ran over to watch
    them!  I essentially gave him a few ornaments that he could touch and
    play with, remove and put back at will, and it kept him from touching
    the others.  He'll be 3 next week, so I had 2 previous Christmas' to
    work on it.
    Sarah

    I was also told to watch out for tinsel.  That if the little one's put
    it into thier mouths and swallowed it could be very dangerous.  Something
    about it stangling their intenstines (SP).  I don't know if it was just
    one of those stories that get around, or if it is true.
    
    Robin

    
    RE. 09
    
    Well, I know for a fact that it's true for cats so I guess why not
    babies?  I heard also it's because it wraps around their intestines.
    
    -chris

re: tinsel

Also a nightmare to keep swept/vacuumed up, and may limit your disposal 
options (some recycling centers insist that all tinsel be removed).  We 
stopped using it when our children were young, and we don't miss it a bit.

Clay

    No we dont use the tinsel much either after the dog got some...
    luckily it went thru...ouch
    

    When our girls were toddlers, we let them help put wooden ornaments on
    the bottom limbs.  This way they felt part of the fun of decorating the
    tree, and they were less likely to want to play with the ornaments once
    they were on the tree.  We also put tiny lights inside - those larger
    lights can get hot enough to burn little fingers.  We also cut off some
    of the lower branches - our girls still like to lay on their backs and
    peer up into the tree!  It's really pretty.  One hint: Don't be in a
    hurry when decorating the tree. Little kids can take a LONG time to put
    on one ornament.  And don't spoil the fun by insisting they put certain
    ornaments certain spots - they tend not to be spaced evenly when the
    kids do it.  Leave it be and if you must, re-arrange ornaments later. 
    I learned the same thing when my girls wanted to roll and cut out and
    decorate Christmas cookies.  When I found myself getting uptight about
    the amount of sugar and flour hitting the  floor, I left the kitchen. 
    I just let them have fun and enlisted their help cleaning up later!
    
    Kathleen
    

    My son is now 5 1/2 years and our xmas tree spent the first 2 seasons
    in the play pen.  He tried to pull on the ornaments, branches, garland
    any thing he could grab.  Kept him away because the little darling
    hated his playpen.
    
    n.s.l.

    re.13
    I had to laugh at your suggestion to let them decorate as they wish. We
    just put up our tree this weekend.  David (3) was given about 10
    ornaments of his own to put on while I did the top of the tree. Yup,
    all 10 ornaments ended up on the same branch! Luckily it's an
    artificial tree, and the branch he chose was one of the main branches
    (very sturdy).  Since then he has removed them all, and put them all
    back on the same branch at least 5 times a day.  
    Sarah

My three year old nephew was over visiting us when we got our tree.
He was very excited about it, and 'helped' decorate until his bedtime.
He took his time and deliberated very carefully on where to hang each
ornament.  When he was done there were about three or four branches on 
the bottom that were completely laden with ornaments packed together
side by side so as to almost completely hide the branch.  We took several
photos for posterity's sake.  

After Alex went to bed, I took them all off and redid the tree.  I was a
little concerned that he might be disappointed when he discovered in the
morning that the tree didn't look the same.  But when he came downstairs
the next day he was awed by it all -- the lights, the tinsel, the ornaments.  
He quickly discovered the little pewter teddy bears that I have.  Anyhow,
during the rest of his stay, the only trouble was that he would stand close
to the tree and the tinsel would reach out & stick to whatever he was wearing.
Must have been static.  If we had small children around all the time, I 
wouldn't use tinsel, nor would I if the dog was allowed in the same room as 
the tree, but its in the living room and that room is forbidden to him.

My sister says that Alex was not nearly so excited when they did their own
tree the following weekend.  I guess its not the same the second time 
around ;-).

Leslie

    My sister bought a very small tree and decorated it with unbreakable
    ornaments (and no lights, tinsel, etc.) when her daughter was small.
    They also had a large 'family' tree in another gated-off room, I think.
    This way, her daugher had her 'own' special tree and wasn't too terribly 
    fascinated with the large tree.