17 month old throwing stuff.

[Scaredycat3000]

I'm not sure how much I should be tackling this as surly it's a development stage?
DS has been throwing stuff for a few months now, at first it was just annoying for us. Then it's getting sometimes painful for us we say no and maybe take things off him depending on the exact situation.
As we are also playing 'catch' with a ball with him it must be confusing for him? Yes throw the ball, but no don't throw the sheep/food? IYSWIM
Well his mobility has improved greatly over the summer holidays, so he can toddle off, and this week at playgroup he threw a toy, didn't hit anybody, lucky for us, but clearly it's not acceptable behaviour.
I want to hit a middle ground here, I think.
What should I expect from my LO?

I think you should expect that 17 month olds throw stuff. It's a case of preventing any damage at this stage, surely? I mean by removing anything potentially dangerous or by stopping it before it happens. My 13 mo DD is the same at the moment.

I think you should expect him to throw things - its fun, you get to see "cause and effect", sometimes you get something unexpected to happen (like a squishy mess, or something changing shape). What's not to enjoy about throwing things? Great to have arms and hands that can do such an interesting thing, when you're just getting the hang of being able to do anything!

All you can do is keep breakable or heavy or sharp things away from him, and remind him to try to be careful and not hurt people. So tell him off if he hurts someone or narrowly escaped it, but don't worry too much and the next phase will be along shortly...

Thanks for your replies. I don't want to be the Mum who's child is hurting the other children but I guess we all are at some point?
I will look forward to the next phase as some pencils land on me

I think you're right, we'll all have to get used to missiles landing on our DCs just as ours throw them at others. I wonder what the next phase will be??