Anonymous wrote:At what age will my children stop spilling milk on the couch or having the occasional potty accident? I don’t let her eat there, but I do let her have milk, and it tips over. She’s 4 and still occasionally wets her pants.

Anonymous wrote:I still have my really nice expensive leather sofa from before kids and vintage rugs in the living room. Oldest is 5 and youngest not yet 2. No milk has ever been spilled there (no food or drinks allowed out of the kitchen/dining room for anyone) and we had maybe 1 potty accident. No jumping on it either. Looks almost new and its 10+ years old. Its not just about the kids.

Anonymous wrote:Oh wnd if you allow milk now, will you allow milk and soda and whatever when shes okder and has friends over? They can still ruin something when older and clumsy and excited.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Potty accidents I would say 1 year from when you started potty training. For us that was 3.5. Milk spills probably about 5. But I have been at adult parties where people spill, so getting a stain resistant or easy to clean couch is a good idea. Or be like my mother and never take the plastic off the couch ever.

Tacking stuff to the wall, that depends on your kids. My oldest never climbed or thought to climb. My middle will ensure everything is secured to the wall until she is 20. But I would say probably about 6-7 for most kids. Once she is tall enough to reach the tops of things, she won't need to open drawers to make a ladder. It is not a bad idea to secure tall bookshelves anyway.

We had our couch professionally steam cleaned and it looked brand new after for only $60. I’m only mentioning it because it can rescue a couch from a bad spill the sooner you do it. As for our couch—it got messy again about 5 seconds after cleaning but I have a 1 and 4 year old (we also don’t eat on it but this couch easily stains). Like OP we are going to get another one once the kids are older. But in the interim get our couch cleaned once a year so it doesn’t look too shabby over that time.

Anonymous wrote:Potty accidents I would say 1 year from when you started potty training. For us that was 3.5. Milk spills probably about 5. But I have been at adult parties where people spill, so getting a stain resistant or easy to clean couch is a good idea. Or be like my mother and never take the plastic off the couch ever.

Tacking stuff to the wall, that depends on your kids. My oldest never climbed or thought to climb. My middle will ensure everything is secured to the wall until she is 20. But I would say probably about 6-7 for most kids. Once she is tall enough to reach the tops of things, she won't need to open drawers to make a ladder. It is not a bad idea to secure tall bookshelves anyway.