Taming Toddlers

The title of this post really should be "Taming Toddlers - Well Trying To......"
The twins really are starting to see how far they can get, particularly little Isabella.
Isabella is such a bright little girl who can melt your heart one minute then drive you crackers the next!
We still have the barricade in front of the television table to stop the twins getting the tv. This did work well to start with until they discovered climbing.
This barricade has now become a climbing frame. I loose count how many time during the day we say
"Isabella, get down!"
"Taylor, get down!"
It feels like it is all we say!
The difference between the twins is that Taylor will only need to be told a couple of times. He soon gets fed up and moves on to some of his toys. Whereas Isabella sees it as a way to push the boundaries.
We will tell her to get down and she will look at us, smile and carry on climbing.
I really do not remember having this problem with Joseph. But this may be the difference between girls and boys, it may be because there was only one Joseph, or it may just be simply down to differences in personalities. Joseph had a time out step as a consequence and I found that this worked well. However, I am sure that he was older than 19 months! If we sat either of the twins on the bottom step they would be off! But we know that we need to put some form of consequence in place, otherwise they will never learn.
I read online today some parents opinions to the use of time out. Some, like me, found it worked, others were completely against it. Every parent is different and has different parenting techniques. What is important is that you do what works for you.
Now we are trying to put in place some consequences for the twins. We have been telling them to get down, if they don't get down we lift them down, if they go back and do it again we put them in their chairs. However they have found that they can actually crawl and walk with the chairs still strapped to their bums! To stop this we have been clipping the chairs to the settee legs. This worked for a bit but now they will sit and watch television it is no deterrent anymore.
So what now?
I think that we need to continue with the chairs as we can put the harness on as I do not feel that they are old enough to understand the concept of time out just yet. They would not sit and would not understand that they have to stay there. I am hoping that we will have more success if we move the chairs away from the main area where the television is and where their toys are.
In theory, this should be more of a deterrent. Whether it will work is yet to be seen! I know that it is up to us as parents to be consistent. I also know that being a good parent means teaching your children right from wrong.
One thing I do know is that I cannot stay annoyed with them for long. All they need to do is give me a little smile and my heart melts!