So my three year old has, since she was little, been really into jumping. I try to warn her that she could seriously injure herself, but this hasn’t happened yet so she doesn’t think I’m serious. But she jumps over and off anything. Sisters bunk bed to the armchair 2 meters away? No problem. Bunk bed to the floor? Sticks the landing every time. I swear my partner must have cheated on me with a f##king spider monkey.

How do I convince her to not do the jumps that could break her ankle if she lands wrong? I’m not getting through to her. I’m happy she is physically active, but she’s taking the piss.

  • flambonksciousEnglish
    102·
    4 days ago

    Maybe you could change the message a little bit and enter deeper into her world?

    We had a stage where we’d play variations on the floor is lava and set up obstacle courses for them - often just by spreading cushions around as stepping stones. Now this is probably a bit lame for your wee one but where I’m going with this is when you start including elevation (chairs or if you’ve got bar stools that are tall?) the pillows in the floor start to roll.

    Them you join in the game as the lava crocodile and capture them any chance they’re too low or make mistakes, and something is bound to happen before long…

    So this has three parts to it:

    • it escalates their play and incorporates some pressure / chasing which is fun
    • it also includes you in the game making it a shared activity
    • it takes you away from the scolding buzz-kill parent, so your warnings might not fall on deaf ears (especially after the inevitable happens, and chances are it’ll be minor in this setting too - provided you don’t have glass coffee tables!)

    Good luck!