Teaching mindees to go up and down stairs unaided

[nipper]

By this I mean, with me in close support (on way down from naptime).
I have a 19 month old mindee who hasn't got the foggiest how to come downstairs either backwards or on her bottom. Every time I turn her around, she starts climbing up. She lives in a three story house, so mum said she can do it but when she is here we could spend hours on the stairs. I suspect mum is carrying her to save time. I know I taught my own children to come down backwards at first and then this turned into coming down on their bottoms when they got a little bit better. Is it in our remit to teach mindees how to come down the stairs or do we only do it if parents are ready and happy for us to do this?

[Helen79]

Is it in our remit to teach mindees how to come down the stairs or do we only do it if parents are ready and happy for us to do this?

I think it's fine to teach them to come down the stairs, it's an every day part of life so wouldn't wait for parents to stat teaching it.
I hold their hand and they walk down forwards when they're learning. Once they get the hang of it I encourage them to hold onto the banister instead of my hand and they usually bum shuffle down or walk slowly.

[The Juggler]

some of my children never learned the going down backwards route -they all came down with a bottom bump forwards.

I don't see any problem with teaching them how to come down safely though

[Zoomie]

I have been teaching my 18m mindee this. She is now finally starting to come down backwards (on her tummy, feet first). Initially parents looked at me blankly when I asked them to do this at home, and I could tell they weren't because mindee would be clueless each time we have another practice. However, as mum's pregnant belly is growing I think they have finally realised that they cant carry mindee on stairs anymore, which is why mindee is getting better at it. Mindee only comes 2x a week, so its like 1 step forward, 2 back ....