Consequences for ds who is 2.3

[lewislewis]

DS is fairly well behaved, no hitting, screaming and tantrums fairly under control ignoring them. But!!!! There are a few things he keeps doing: for instance 2 or 3 times a day he goes to the fridge and rifles through it. Should I: 1) Ignore (but then he would eat the jam, the ham, etc 2) Ask him to stop with a nice voice once, a bit more firmly the 2nd time and then remove him with a stern voice and dump in the cot for 2 minutes or just remove him to somewhere boring, and let him have a tantrum, and ignore the tantrum, or 3) Should I distract him, but in that case he is rewarded for being naughty by being offered something more interesting to do.
He also committs other minor offences, the usual, plays with the video, touches books/cds and dvds, and similar. These are small things, but we have given ds the run of the house, he has lots of freedom to explore, but I begin to want him to understand that there are 2 or 3 things in the house that are out of bounds. In fact I want him to understand that when I say No for the 3rd time he has to stop whatever he is doing, otherwise he has to suffer the consequences. Time out in the cot seems a bit harsh, and would like to use that for serious offences, should I just remove him to another side of the room and ignore him Sorry about the ramble, I am not English and find it difficult to think this late in the evening.

I would just say "no" firmly, and remove him from the area, then distract him with something else. I would agree with you that time-out is a bit harse for this, as he is only 2, but you're right to try and get him to do something else instead. Good luck

put a lock on the fridge.
you can get plastic clippy things which stick inside it, or I read about using two long elastic 'octopus' hooks going all round the fridge (you use them for attaching things onto a bike, top of the car, etc they are elastic and have a hook at each end).
save effort for big issues like safety, eg staying by your side when out and about.

Agree, lock the fridge. It's not only normal for children to touch stuff, they literally can't help it. It's essential for development. I think it's mostly up to us to put stuff out of reach until they are older.

We put a lock on our fridge and it has worked a treat. DD is now 3 and won't even go near it, I don't think she has even realised that the lock has now been removed.

Agree with other posters but wanted to add, are you sure doing time out in the cot is a good idea? You don't want him associating his cot with punishment and maybe developing sleep problems, I imagine...

thankyou,would love to hear if anybody does anything different.

I will second edam, if you do time out in his cot he will think he is being punished every time he goes to bed. I would use the stairs, or failing that, a "naughty mat", that is only used for time outs.

And for rifling through the fridge, I would just remove and distract until you can lock the fridge.

Don't agree about not using cots or bedrooms for time out. Dr Tanya Byron used it in her Tiny Tearaways thing. It is like saying that time out on stairs or in the kitchen will put kids off stairs and kitchens.

I flinched when i saw this title! At 2.3 he is not being naughty, only inquistive. Yes distract him is the answer, this is not a reward for naughty behaviour, it is simply a technique to break the pattern of doing something which then makes mummy come and take me away, eventually he'll forget about going to the fridge and he'll be on to the next repetitive act!