Is there a Toddler Support thread over here? =)

[CW&M Mom]

We have a 2.5 year old (in addition to an 8.5 yr old, a 4.9 yr old, and a 9 week old). He is WILD! He colors on every wall in our house, throws objects in the toilet, screams and whines, etc. He doesn't speak much yet, and it's so frustrating to guess what he wants. But ... he's also very sweet to his new brother, laughs and plays with his big brother, and makes his dad and I laugh, too. Good thing!!

I've thrown so many markers/pens/crayons in the trash. I feel your pain!!!!

My stinker always chooses the wall paper to color on.

[PetuniaBlue]

I can kind of help with the cleaning of the room.

Most children at that age (okay all children) cannot really clean there room. They are just too young and it's too overwhelming for them.

What we do with my son is make it a game..but we are very specific on what to clean.

cause if you ask him to clean his room..the tears start...I can't do it bla bla bla.

I say "son I want you to go in your room and clean up only your cars" "ready set go"

he then will run in his room..he's not overwhelmed cause he knows exactly what to do..and since it will only take a minute or so he doesn't see it as some big job.

Then maybe an hour later. "I want you to go and put your clothes in the hamper" ready set go.

rinse lather repeat.

As for asking her when she does something. Honestly I wouldn't ask her. It really doesn't matter why she did it. The one thing she gains from it though..is your attention. quick, short, concise. No attention from the misbehavior. Silently you take her hand, walk her to the time out area, leave her there, walk away. Don't say anything but "your in time out" When time out is done..she needs to apologize but I wouldn't converse with her as to why she did it. I'd just say "You made a wrong choice. You were told to not do this..and you did anyways. You need to apologize".

Thanks for the tips. We have tried most of them and some work/some don't. Her cleaning her room will come with time. She knows exactly how to do it and where everything goes, she has a large wall of labeled bins that everything goes in. When she has her little friends over she will make them put everything away and show them what goes where. And, when she is really trying to get her way she will go clean her whole room and put everything where it goes to surprise me. But the rest of the time, she couldn't give a hoot!


She is my little hooligan but I wouldn't trade a minute of it!

[PetuniaBlue]

As for asking her when she does something. Honestly I wouldn't ask her. It really doesn't matter why she did it. The one thing she gains from it though..is your attention. quick, short, concise. No attention from the misbehavior. Silently you take her hand, walk her to the time out area, leave her there, walk away. Don't say anything but "your in time out" When time out is done..she needs to apologize but I wouldn't converse with her as to why she did it. I'd just say "You made a wrong choice. You were told to not do this..and you did anyways. You need to apologize".

We do this, but she will be the first to do XYZ, immediately say she is sorry and go to time out on her own. She has told me before that she knows she is going to be in trouble but she wanted to do XYZ more than she was worried about being in trouble. My MIL has said she is the exact mini-me of her dad. She thinks it through (outloud sometimes, even!) and decides whether it is worth getting in trouble to do it anyway. Most of the time she decides it is!

She is so much like her dad it is uncanny:)

[drtidwell]

I have a 4yr DD and a 3mth DS and i have to say with my DD i had all the patience in the world, took everything with a grain of salt, then i quit smoking. now i cant stand anything! i am glad i never had to break her of a paci, sons the same way. with both i tried a couple times to give it to them and they didnt want it so i didnt push it, i said you know it would be nice if all i had to do to get her to stop crying was pop the soothie in her mouth but im really going to enjoy not having to break her of it! my dh was the stay at home dad while i went to work and i was making myself a wreck thinking my god shes gonna be 3 and not potty trained, and theres my mom saying i had you guys potty trained at 1. then you turn around and theres dh and all he wants is to do the way that makes the least mess, which meant he didnt want to give up the diapers or the bottle a year before. had to take matters into my own hand then, threw away all the bottles since i knew he wouldnt go out and buy any and then stopped buying diapers! i think he bought one package before he decided that wasnt worth it! i just had to shake my head and say yeah try buying them for 2 1/2 yrs. anyways i looked into alot of different ways to go about potty training and picked the reward system. dd knew what candy was but almost never got any so i went and bought a bag of plain mms and if she peed in the potty she got 3 mms and if she did #2 she got to reach in and grab a handful from the jar. she peed on herself once. i got a lot of the three drops and arent you proud wheres my candy at first! but it worked like a dream for us. have to agree with the above about not using pull ups. i think they just encourage them to continue going on themselves too. now if someone knows a cure for night terrors i would love to hear it. dd would scare me to death when we lived in west texas cause she would wake up screaming and id be tossing her around looking for a scorpion or spider or something in her pajamas.

[cpaige]

Thorrock1- I am so on board with you I have two teens 14 and 16. WE need our own thread for dealing with teens

There SHOULD be a thread for that. I'm sure there are plenty of you that could use it!! I had a huge hand in raising my sister (9yrs younger) and I am very grateful that I have a little boy. She, on the other hand, has an 8 month old little girl and another little girl on the way. Karma is biting her in the heiny BIG TIME!!!

Mods ~ If no one opposes, could we change the thread name to Toddler Support (or something like that)?

[katieprov19]

This makes me feel better. My baby is 20 months and he drives me up the wall. He wants to be held then wants to be put down. He grabs the remote constantly and then turns off the volume. Yesterday he did that and then screamed b/c the sound wasn't on anymore! My favorite was today when I left the room to go pee and he threw himself down on his back and screamed. I knew he was in a safe place, so I shut the door to pee. I opened the door to peek out and he was quietly playing blocks. If mommy's not looking I'm not going to have a fit, what's the point!

[Stacy]

Not only is this thread going to help with me with my almost 16 month old twins, but I have a 13 year old son who thinks he's 21 so a teen thread would be nice too!! LOL I am about to pull my hair out with all 3!!!!

[gatosqueak]

Little Dude isn't born yet, but I keep hoping he is born with his daddy's and mine guilt gene... we both tell on ourselves and feel guilty. Helped a lot in my childhood. LOL.

[ekoury]

My DD (16 months) climbs everywhere, especially on end tables and sofas. We locked everything :) she is getting pretty good eating by herslef, but still makes a mess. And if she decides to put her messy hands in her hair...

[cpaige]

Took my son to the beach today (again) and he was so exhausted......not so much anymore. He keeps trying to finagle his way out to the living room. What part of 'mommy would like to go back to bed' is so hard to comprehend?

sleep. i just want to go back to sleep!