DIY Toddler Hand Rail

My daughter and granddaughter, Squeak, have an apartment in my basement.  Even though they have their own home, Little Miss spends as much time upstairs with me as she does downstairs with her mom. 

Little Miss is 2 and super independent. Too independent. She comes from a long line of stupidly independent women and the gene didn't skip her.  

She's now taking to coming and going as she pleases, absent an adult. On the stairs. She goes up. She goes down.  She gives me a near heart attack every time. 

She is tall enough to reach the hand rail, but, her hand is too small to actually grip it.  She refuses to sit and scoot down the stairs once she figured out she could walk up like a grown ass adult. One foot in front of the other.  Not step up and plant both feet on one stair, then do the same on the next. Nope. She's a one foot after the other.  

And I'm too old for this kind of terror. 

So I decided to get her a toddler hand rail. But they don't really exist - at least as far as I could find. There were thick ropes people hung to their existing rails, and that would probably work fine. But it also made me nervous for no rational reason. 

So I thought about it for a few days, and came to a solution.  I needed a 12 foot hand rail.  I looked on line and didn't find anything I really liked.  So I took Little Miss to the hardware store. I found a 3/4" dowel that she could grip completely with her little tiny hand. I bought two. I bought four hand rail hardware mounts. 

I had Little Miss be my biggest helper and hold the dowel so I could see how high it needed to be. 14" from the bottom was just right.  

A few drill holes, lots of measuring and re-measuring, some stud finding, about two hours, and bam!  Railing in place.  It's not beautiful, but it's functional and hopefully it saves her from any slips or falls  

She was so proud using it going down the stairs and then up again.  I feel so much better knowing she has a good grip. 

It's not beautiful. But it's sturdy, functional, and Little Miss thinks shes a really big girl now.  Mission Accomplished.