Help My Daughter Runs Wild!

I have a 2 yr old boy and he does the actig out thing sometimes and what I do is just play with him and give him all of my attention for awhile, 30 min. if possible or so. It seems that he starts acting out when he hasn't had enough from my husband or myself. We also tell him we love him and hold him. I think they act out like this because they are testing us and just need attention. It's perfetly normal. I know it's hard. I have 4 boys and been through everything. So if you would like to chat write back. My email is ____@____.com in there it gets easier and then harder again. But with support from others it really seems to help. So when ever you need some support or someone to chat just email me. I know how hard it can be. Take care.

It sounds like she's doing it for the attention. My pediatrician said when they act out this young, it is to test the limits and get any type of attention. He said the key was to ignore it. I know it's impossible to just ignore the scribbling - so my suggestion would be to throw all of the markers out for now. Explain to her that until she learns where she can and can't color, there will be no more markers. I also read that the reason they draw on walls isn't just for attention- it's because at that age, that is the most comfortable position to write/draw in. I read an easel can help with that.

So I say, take all the writing implements away- and ignore her when she acts up. If she doesn't get a reaction, she will realize it doesn't work. Give her extreme praise when she's being good.

Is she playing by herself while you are napping? If so she probably gets bored and finds something to get in to. Make sure your house is childproof, she may find soemthing that can hurt her.

Strip her room of everything except the bare essentials and safe toys. Then put up a baby gate in her doorway. If she can climb the gate, put up 2 (one on top of the other to compeltely block her doorway top to bottom). It may seem like you are keeping her caged in, but it's more for her safety than anything else. If you are hiding markers and she is finding them, she may also find knives and other dangerous things throughout your home when you are still sleeping. I didn't see where you said her age---???--- To avoid falls, put a mattress on the floor instead of using a crib.

Buy a crib tent! They are the best. That way, not only can she not get out and cause trouble, but you'll know she is safe.

I have 3 cats, I was worried about my daughter being smothered by them jumping into the crib. We also live in a town house so I worried about her falling down the stairs.I got a net that covers the openning of the bed. You put the matress into the nets opening and run the plastic piping into four holes so it looks like a tent. The net is small enough to avoid fingers, large enough for air and is very durable. I got the net at babies r us and you can find it in the baby section of toys r us. It was a lifesaver!!! I think the net is around 40 dollars.

The absolute best thing to do is take everything that she can color with or brake or anything you would normally not let her use by herself and take it out of her sleeping area (room). Even put it in tupperware bins that are difficult to open by a young one. That way when she gets out she wont use anything shes not suppossed to.

I say buy the tent and also Crayola color wonders my daughter loves drawing on everything it drove me crazy i was scrubbing walls and painting constantly! color wonders are great dose not show up on anything but the paper it comes with!!! and best of all if the lids arnt on they dont dry up for a few days.

I agree with starting with a crib tent, they do help. And I have to use them on 2 of my 5. We also got to the point of removing any markers and other pens, breakables and bought a foot locker with a pad lock. My son would find stuff I didn't know we even owned. All that helped. From there we just became more creative.