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twirlerzmom 08:46 AM 10-11-2019
Need suggestions on what to do with a days away from being2 year old who constantly snatches toys away from everyone. Doesn’t matter if she had no interest in it previously but as soon as someone else is playing quietly with something she will purposely run over and take the item away from the child and run away and laugh. The other children immediately verbalize no, stop, etc, but doesn’t even phase this girl. I’ve been using the terms not your turn, you can play with it after Susie is done playing with it but she either continues to play tug of war with the toy or walk away saying ok but then turn back and snatch it 60 secs later. My day is spent putting out fires that this girl is starting with all the others. She also constantly messes with the baby always shoving things in the baby’s mouth or getting in the baby’s face until the baby starts to cry. Do I separate her from the group and have her play alone? I find she’s starting to take all my attention every day now.
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e.j. 09:16 AM 10-11-2019
I was just coming here to post something similar! I'm at my wit's end with the child I have here and am on the verge of terming - and I very rarely term. I've only had one other child in the 23 years I've been doing day care whose "toy snatching" rises to the same level of this kid's snatching. Dcm blames it on her being 2 (she'll be 3 in another month) but the behavior is well beyond what I see from most of the 2 - 3 year olds I've had in my care. Anyway... no advice since I haven't been able to resolve my own toy snatcher problem but I can definitely empathize with you. I'm exhausted after spending a day with her.
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Ariana 10:00 AM 10-11-2019
I bring the child back to the child they snatched from and do hand over hand to give the toy back if they do not do it when I ask them. It gets old really fast and they stop doing it pretty quickly. I also advise mom and dad to not allow their child to snatch toys from them either. Model the behavior.
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Unregistered 09:17 AM 10-15-2019
I had a child like this last year! After observation, our best guess was that he was snatching toys as a way of attempting to get attention from other children. I spent a lot of time proactively helping him enter into play with other children before the snatching started (meaning the second he walked in the door!). We practiced saying "can I play with you?" and made sure we had multiples of everything/toys that could be used by more than 1 child at a time.

Even though it was still taking most of my energy, it was totally worth it! This focused practice really reduced the snatching behavior. It took a few weeks of proactive intervention/patience/persistence on my part. But hey, we're teachers, right?

Not sure if your child is snatching for the same reason, but it might be helpful to do some close observation to try to figure out what is driving the behavior - trying to play with peers? Boredom? Just stuck in a rut? Make your plan around teaching new skills/prevention.
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Tags:classroom management, discipline - consistency, redirect, separating children, shadow
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