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My3cents 06:58 AM 08-31-2012
Originally Posted by brookeroo:


So I have one of these in my playroom. The same child who has all his teeth and chews up my house as well as himself creating hickeys on his arms and all my toys has progressively gotten more destructive by scratching at my carpet and furniture to create lint that he can eat. We have had issues with him throwing which has gotten a little better but the chewing persists and has increased despite having gotten toys for him to redirect him with (which is a full time job in it's own) and now that he is getting closer to 2 years old we are having a lot more issues with him not listening all together.

Today, he decided to dump all of my duplo legos (two big bins) as well as pull the toy bins (that you see above) completely over 3 times while I was in the kitchen making lunch...spilling all of the toys out and now I cannot trust that he won't pull it over on another child. SO as a last resort... I was going to get a superyard and keep him quarantined in it with toys he is allowed to chew on and that way I don't have to be concerned with him hurting one of the other kids.

HOWEVER, I'm completely sure that his mother is going to flip out (which I'm fine with at this point) that I'm not letting him be free. Her response whenever he does stuff like this is a chuckle and says "boys will be boys, sorry he was a little butt for you". If I make a big deal out of things she always throws her hands up in the air and says "well I don't know what to do, I can't stop it. What do you want me to do?". Uhm... at least take your kid to the freakin doctor and be honest with them! There is a start! I could deal with these issues if she was genuinely concerned with fixing them but they aren't interested in early intervention.

Since I can't get her to get real about this child's state of various problems I pretty much am fine with her leaving but I just want to know... am I out of line for keeping an almost 2 year old child quarantined all day or even most of it? I'm sure he will begin throwing again once I do this... I am just at the point where I cannot continue with things the way that they are and they have made it clear they are not interested in confronting these problems.
Without reading the responses yet, this my thoughts.

Do what you have to do when the child is in your care and don't ask permission from the parents. If she see's that he is separated from the others, explain he was having a hard time being with all the other children.

The word quarantined to me, sounds like a word that is used for an animal. IF your intentions are to treat this child like an animal, then you should let him go. If your planning to teach him what is acceptable in your home and what is not by using a gate, then try it. I am thinking that at two he will just plow that gate over.

My best idea for you is to be by his side for a while. When he does something he shouldn't do, correct him then and there. If you can't be directly on top of him, put him in a high chair while you make lunch. He will get it after a while.

It is normal for toy chewing and dumping. Chewing is related to teething and toy dumping is cause and effect. He has to understand the effect that if he dumps toys he is going to pick them up. My kids are coming out of this stage and it was not fun and took a lot of work on my part. They just don't know and they do what they can do. Dumping once learned is easy and gives the sense of control over something.

Good luck it is a tiring stage to go through but very normal in development.

Off to read the rest of the responses now.
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