No More Monkeys Climbing in the Shelves!

Anyone who knows anything about my kids knows how they climb.  There is honestly no safe place in this house.  If they can't scale it alone, they stack things until they can.  I stopped getting on them for climbing on the couches ages ago, because honestly, nothing stopped them, and it only made me frustrated.  I would be on them all day if I were to TRY to stop their climbing. 

We do imposed limits on climbing.  Store shelves are obviously off-limits, as are other people's property.  The only store where this has been a big issue is Home Depot.  They push 2 rows back-to-back and with all of the merchandise and the height of the shelving my kids consider it the ultimate adventure.  One reason being that the spaces are just right for kids, and there is no way for adults to get in there.  We usually try to restrain them in the cart because if they get loose the inevitable happens.

A couple of weeks ago Dax took Hayden and Kyra to Home Depot to give me a break and get the kids out doing something.  He was looking at toilet seats when the kids made their escape into the shelves.  He kept telling them to come out, but when you can't get in and the kids know that, well, it's just hard.  Kyra climbed up onto the first shelf and reached out to hang on the second shelf and swing.  After a minute she realized she was losing her grip, so she tried to swing her feet back onto the first shelf, but couldn't.  Only on the way down did her feet find the first shelf, becoming stuck on it and swinging her upper body forward and slamming her forehead right into the concrete.  Dax couldn't even get in there to get her out.  She was crying hysterically as she climbed out.  Luckily no one was around. 

She gets the award for biggest goose egg ever.  It looked like someone had stuck a ping pong ball under her skin.  We are grateful she wasn't more hurt.  In some ways I am glad something happened to help her learn on her own.  I can't tell you how many times we have told the kids it is not safe to be in the shelves, on top of being disrespectful.  Kyra has definitely learned her lesson.  The next time she goes to Home Depot I doubt she will go anywhere near the shelves.

Soon after they were home.

 She has a diligent father.  She was too squirmy for me to try and hold ice on her.

As the swelling on her forehead went down it reappeared between her eyes.  She had a huge gap between her eyes for a couple of days.

The start of the black eyes.

 This day was probably the worst for how the bruises looked.  6 days after the incident.