My daughter is nearly 2 and LOVES to rift through drawers and pull DVDs off of the shelves... I've tried immediately telling her no, pulling her away, even giving her a "time out" spot that she goes to if she acts up. But she just often ignores me and goes about her actions. I'm not sure what to do to get her to stop, any suggestions?
Personally, I would put the DVDs away somewhere else where she can't get to them, and see if there is a way to make the drawers harder for her to get open - or fill them with stuff that is okay for her to pull out, then have her help put it all back.
Is she ignoring you and not going to time out? Or going to time out and ignoring you when you again tell her not to do something and then doing it? Part of the problem is more than likely that 2 year old's want to assert their will, and they lack self-control.
So stay consistent with the discipline, it will take awhile for her to learn you mean what you say. Take her to time out if you have to, move it to her room or another area away from where she just destroyed so she doesn't go right back to it. Have her put whatever she takes out of the drawers away, same with the DVD's after the time out, a consequence of her actions, this may be enough without a time out to reinforce better behavior. Head her off when you see what she's about to do, and remind her that she will go to time out if she touches _____ or ask "Do you want a time out?" to get her to think.
Also have an area with things she CAN touch as opposed to those she can't, like her toys and books, so she can learn to differentiate between what she can touch and what she can't.
My 2.5 year old still loves to seek and destroy, but more often than not when I ask him if he's supposed to touch something as he's going for it he'll stop and move on to something else. He knows if he tosses something on the floor that doesn't belong there he's going to pick it up, tonight he had things to pick up before bedtime. When I want him to listen to something I'm saying I cup his face in my hands to look him in the eyes and while he sometimes thinks we're playing it helps him to focus on what I'm telling him.
hang in there : )
Redirect, remove, relocate and more appropriate R words.
Redirect her attentions to something appropriate and tell her not to mess with the things that aren't hers. My DD has a drawer of her own of mix-matched tupperware she can play with.
Remove the temptation (kid locks!).
Relocate the child to another room to play or put child in time out.
I also have DD help me put them back and tell her when and how she can get a DVD to watch (tell me and I'll put it in for her).
The other thing parents need is Resilience. We often have to out-wit or out-last our child. Even if it's 50 times a day. Don't give up.
Discipline means teaching, not strictly punishment. It's seldom if ever necessary to slap a hand or a butt if you study what's developmentally normal at different ages, and work with that. If there are things that are truly off-limits for a toddler who is at the age where she MUST explore and manipulate, then those things are best placed or locked out of her reach. She WILL outgrow this stage (which I've heard called such terms as "Fill and Dump") and enter some other exploratory stage.
I don't think it's ultimately advantageous to discourage a child's natural curiosity. It's far better to give alternative outlets that let her motor skills, eye-hand development, and visual discrimination grow. For example, at around a year and a half, kids MUST throw, early and often. They're developing essential coordination by repeatedly throwing, dropping, and whacking at things with an overhand motion. You will thrill them by giving them soft, throwable objects and participate in target practice – a basket, box, or hula hoop on the floor, a soft pillow to whap with a styrofoam stick. Then precious objects are less likely to be targets, and the child will be less frustrated when you redirect them away from things they shouldn't whack.
So provide at least one shelf, and at least one drawer, full of toys that can be repeatedly removed and replaced. My grandson had a drawer in the kitchen that he could raid for unbreakable bowls, spoons, pans and cups, so he could "participate" while his mom was fixing meals. It was a brilliant solution. He could be directed to his special drawer anytime he started exploring the no-no cabinets.
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I would put the things that she is getting into ...up and out of her reach...out of her sight would be even better. Why not AVOID a battle in the first place?
What drawers is she wanting to rifle through? My daughters keep one drawer in the kitchen that is "child safe"...and filled with things that the boys loves to play with...measuring spoons, wooden mixing spoons, metal whisk, a couple of small pans or plastic bowls, things that they can enjoy banging and making noise with...when they start to dig into a drawer that is off limits...instead of telling them "no"...they just redirect them to the drawer that is there for them to play with.
With this age, the main thing is to redirect, redirect,redirect....when they start doing something that they shouldn't be doing....help them find something that is safe for them to do and won't make you crazy!!
Good luck!!!
She's curious, hard to stop it. I'd be more worried if she DIDNT want to rifle thru drawers. Just keep teaching her what "no" means, she'll get it eventually. Or to make it easier on you and keeping a few "no no's" out of your daily vocabulary, make a few more places that are kid proof for her. Sometimes it's easier to put valuables up for a few months until your child is mature enough and keeps you from worrying about things getting broken or her getting hurt.
Child proof latches on the drawers, and put the dvds up high so she can't reach them. At this age, she not going to get it. It's fun to her so she's going keep doing it.
99% of it with this age is prevention. So, move everything you don't want her to touch. Your job right now is to avoid battles. The less discipline you need to use, the better with this age group.
TO don't work all that well, if you ask me. I use them more as a way to distract, remove both of us from the situation, so reset things. It really is about prevention with the toddler group. And Distraction, distraction, distraction.
Also, try to not say NO. I swear they are programmed to do whatever we tell them not to do, so if you don't tell them not to do something, they can't go against you. Instead, make suggestions, for instance, "lets clean up this mess." Then start picking things up. Don't tell her to pick anything up, just sing the clean up song, and eventually, in a few days, she will start picking up with you.
