Today he emptied the dishwasher detergent all over the floor. Yesterday he emptied the Q-tips all over the bathroom floor. One of his favorites is the bookshelf. Friday he emptied the sugar container. He loves to throw things in the toilet. He doesn't do it to be bad, he just wants to see "if I do this, what will happen?".
He is really testing me, creating a frustrated mommy. He always has to clean up his mess. If I say "Uht-oh" too sternly he ends up in a puddle of tears. Oh the joys. Suggestions?
2 comments:
with ethan if i acted really sad, that had a motivating effect, because he didn't want to make me sad. if i got mad, he melted. with cora if i'm sad or mad, she thinks it's funny. --so i'm lost there.
The key is to NEVER take your eyes off them ;-) If they never leave your side they have a harder time finding trouble. However, with that plan it is also easy to get frustrated because they NEVER leave your side!
Usually if I see they are about to do something I use a stern "NO!" before they do it. If they continue with the action I remove them from the situation. Often cleaning up is fun for them, so I often have my kids, yes, even my one year old, sit in time out as the punishment. Depending on the child and/or age of the child I hold the child for time out, or I have them sit on their own (locked in a booster seat if needed) while I clean up the mess.
If my kids start throwing food on the floor after two times of throwing something. I take the rest of the food off of the tray or out of reach and then offer a piece to them again when they ask for it making sure to tell them they need to eat it when I hand it back. If they do well with the first couple of bites I will give them the rest of their food to eat on their own. If not, then they are left sitting there with no food.
Hopefully something here will help...every child is different and learns differently. So, find what motivates him to stop and see if you can do that in each of the different situations.
Even though I teased earlier about not letting them out of your sight, I have found that as I teach my children different roles I try to keep an eye on them. For me it is like teaching them to climb stairs. I don't use a baby gate...instead while they are little I am constantly following them up and down the stairs until I feel like they have mastered that part. They learn quickly that they need to turn around at the top of stairs and not lean back while climbing. Then I don't have to worry about baby gates. I feel the same way with other rules at home. If I teach Levi now while he is little which cupboards or drawers he is allowed to open he learns to leave the other ones alone later. Alright, so I have gone on longer then what I was planning...would you like an essay on my parenting style?! just teasing!! Good luck!
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