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Josiegirl 03:25 AM 02-22-2019
In all of his 21 mo toddler misadventures, tearing apart books has become one of his most recent challenges. I was thinking of putting all the older kid books up but he's doing it to all the books we have.
How do you keep your books safe from mistreatment? The other kids love books and for the most past, treat them right.
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Ac114 04:03 AM 02-22-2019
Originally Posted by Josiegirl:
In all of his 21 mo toddler misadventures, tearing apart books has become one of his most recent challenges. I was thinking of putting all the older kid books up but he's doing it to all the books we have.
How do you keep your books safe from mistreatment? The other kids love books and for the most past, treat them right.
Just because of the ages that I have in care right now and the fact that most of them want to tear the books up, I have had to remove them from the room altogether. I saved a few for circle time or one of the older children for nap time but this was my only solution after months of ripped up books. 😩
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ColorfulSunburst 04:49 AM 02-22-2019
All books are reachable here for all my kids.
Just the first word that babies start using here is "gentle".
If a book gets ripped I repair it in front of kids and tell them that books are our friends and we should be gentle with them. The book right now gets bo-bo and needs a book's bandage.
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DaveA 05:10 AM 02-22-2019
At 21 months he can know how to not damage them. I wouldn't allow him to have the books for a while. Then make him use board books with me after that for a bit.
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CountryRoads 05:21 AM 02-22-2019
I had to put ours in a separate room because of the same issue. Even board books would get ruined. At storytime, we pick out some books, read them, and they get put away.
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storybookending 05:41 AM 02-22-2019
I would for sure remove the books from him until he can handle himself with them. My youngest is 17 months and he is pretty good by now sometimes I will just catch him bending them while carrying them and I recorrect. When I have book eaters the board books stay on the lower two shelves and the paper books on the higher two.. kids are an average of 3 before they can reach the top shelves and can always ask if they want one they can’t reach.
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Jupadia 05:51 AM 02-22-2019
I have the majority of my books up high and unreachable for the kids. The older ones can get them off of me by asking and I'll give them some to read in the coner center (a gated area using a large playyard) or at the big table. This includes all paper page books. On a lower shelf for all kids I leave a few hard cover books. Some are already damaged books, some are dollor store books and others are titles we have been gifted but are not the best actual stories. This books I'm not worried about, if someone is delerbertly damaging them then I just put them away for the day or take them away from child when they play with them. For circle I read the books from up high.
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e.j. 09:41 AM 02-22-2019
Books I read to the kids but don't want ruined are put up on shelves high enough that the kids can't reach. (They include books with a holiday theme that are read during a specific time of year. I also put expensive versions of classics and books with specific themes that I use/need as part of my curriculum out of reach.) Board books, duplicates of my special books, donated books and books that aren't in the best shape are put on shelves and in baskets and bins where the kids can easily reach them.

I try to teach the kids from an early age to handle books gently but I know the books within their reach are going to get walked on, chewed on and ripped. I only let the kids have access to the books I'm willing to toss once they get ruined. I buy a lot of books inexpensively at library sales, Scholastic Book warehouse sales and am lucky to have a lot donated to me so it doesn't hurt so much when I have to toss them.
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Josiegirl 09:52 AM 02-22-2019
I buy so many of mine from yard sales so it's not a huge monetary loss, it's the whole 'books are special' thinking I have. And I thought board books were pretty indestructible but you wouldn't believe what he's done to some of those. I've got so many books. This 21 mo is he!! on wheels I swear. Everything he can get into trouble for, he does. Well, except for biting TG but hope I didn't just jinx myself.
Guess I'll go through my books this weekend and just put back the ones he's already manhandled, then place the ones I want to keep, out of reach. Maybe donate some to the local library so someone can use them before they're ruined.
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Tags:book - fixing, book damage
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