Woes of a Toddler Bed

Once there was a little boy. His mother REALLY wanted him to learn how to sleep in a toddler bed- but he thought it was more or less a game. Every night they would let him start in his toddler bed, but after a few minutes of giggles and running back to his bed every time his parents came in, he inevitably ended up back in his pack-in-play. That was all fine and dandy until the day he learned how to climb OUT of his pack-n-play. Now what would they do?
When a kind lady in the neighborhood so generously offered to give him her crib that she was trying to get rid of, his mother of course said yes. She was hoping he would dare climb out of the crib yet since it was high off the ground. The kind lady went above and beyond the normal kindness and even came over to help set it up. What did the little boy do? Did he say thank you? Did he mention how nice free beds were? Did he offer to sleep in it all night? No. He simply climbed out in record time. Sigh.
Needless to say, the next TWO HOURS were spent putting him back, and back, and back, and back, and back, and back.. you get the picture... in his bed (instead of having him run around his room!). When he finally crashed at nine pm, his mother too collapsed in bed and promptly fell asleep. There's got to be a better way to do this right?