dd 4.9 will not stop climbing/swinging/damaging the furniture.

[familyfun]

dd has chicken pox and is bored but this is not a new problem although worse at the moment.
she has been told not to stand on the arms/back of chairs.
she has been told not to swing on door handles.
she has been told not to pull corner protectors off.
she has been told not to climb the heated towel rail/radiator.
she has been told not to stand on the windowsill.
i have explained why not and have tried gently reminding her, asking her what she is doing, barking dd get down, every time i look at her she is somewhere she shouldnt be and im at the end of my tether.

i have took her out on a quiet path on her scooter, she has been in the garden, she has craft things to do and too many toys but will not behave herself.

me and dp have both shouted at her tonight, to no avail.

too many rules, in our house i choose the battles carefully and frankly if theyre not injuring anyone else, they get on with it.

she needs gymnastic lessons
or a climbing frame

Can you try suggesting what you do want her to do or give her a choice to do a or b?

if she pulls the radiator off the wall/pulls door handles off/pulls protectors off and dd2 cuts her head/falls off back of settee and hurts herself/someone else - surely she should not be allowed to trash the house cos she likes climbing. you really let your kids walk along the windowsill?
we arent rich, save up to get furniture etc and i expect it to be respected so it lasts.

i have offered gymlessons/dance lessons/swim lessons - she wont go without me ( iwould be watching from sidelines but she wants me right there)
i would love to get her a basic climbing frame but they are all too young or very expensive.

We have this with DS 7, DD 5 and DS2 2, constant climbing and clambering and slamming doors and have been quite lax on it. But last week DS1 jumped off the sofa and landed on DD giving himself a black eye and her a sore head. So we've now got some house rules pinned on the wall, one of which is 'do not jump off the furniture' and the rest are things that the 2 eldest suggested (all very sensible). Some are 'Do' things rather than all 'Do not' and tried not to have more than 5 or 6, otherwise it's too complicated/penitentiary-like. They have to go to their room if they break the rules and of course love informing on each other!

I have similar problems with my dd who is high energy. Dancing DVDs do she can copy the moves are successful. We have just dance kids for the Xbox which works. Simon says is a good one. As in Simon says jump up and down and let her do it for a while before something else. I clear as big a space as possible in lounge so she can do handstands, rolls etc.

It helped me when I realised she is not being naughty, she just needs to be physically active.

How about everytime she does one of those things she has to run 5 laps of the back garden or something?

At 4.9 she is old enough to respect your house but it does sound like she needs a lot of physical wearing out.

i have told her the rules are respect people and our home but she has no respect for anything at the moment

Yes that's a good idea Mnistooaddictive. Try and channel it into physical activity that's acceptable. Like today they were starting to get out of hand, running into the sofa and DH was about to blow. So I asked DS to teach DD to do a forward roll. That did actually work. And we've said they are allowed to run round the downstairs of the house in a circuit if they're careful.

Sometimes ours become hyperactive when they're over-tired as well.

i put boogis beebies on today for her to dance to and often challenge her to do x amount of starjumps/sit ups/pressups which she loves but the minute my back is turned she is scaling something.

Is she 'spirited', I've got one of those kids but he's only 2 1/2.

We have a trampoline and slide in our lounge to stop him trashing the furniture. "sofas are for sitting on, the trampoline is for jumping on" etc etc repeat repeat repeat. if all he hears is "don't jump on the sofa" all he hears is "jump on the sofa" and he can't help himself.

Maybe be a bit more specific with the rules? Discuss what 'respect' means? Also, focus/praise some of the things she does do right? Just ideas - half the time, mine drive me crazy and nothing I say/do makes any difference!! I went on a parenting course for 12 weeks and still can't get it right

partly she is energetic but partly it is for attention. after scooter ride/play in garden/lego and puzzles i had to do a few chores and needed to entertain herself for a while then she starts climbing and says she is bored.

she is naughty at the moment, everything is a battle.

Well perhaps try one and strike and your out for this behaviour if it's for attention.

No telling off, no warning, straight into time out if she does those things

That sounds very tricky, you've tried loads of things already! How about some new quiet activities - pens or jigsaws? DD has recently become interested in jigsaws again, but I usually have to do them with her.

Get her to help you do chores, she sounds like she just doesn't like being on her own.

It's an in between stage I think too. They're not toddlers anymore but still highly dependent on your company and attention. Set out clearly which time is time you will be able to spend directly with her without being distracted and which time she will need to be more independent. Have a sand timer perhaps, so she gets a sense of time?

Praise when she's appropriately behaving and work out which of her bad behaviour you can ignore and which needs dealing with/consequences etc. Make sure she knows what the consequences are at the outset.

You aren't alone - my four year old DS has been climbing the walls in a similar fashion this week. Will be following RandomMess' advice about making him do several laps of the garden each time he somersaults on the sofa/ uses the towel rail as a monkey bar/ hangs dangerously from cupboard door! Need to knock this on the head -he's got two little brothers!

imo she is too dependent on my time, school hols are hard as she misses school/friends/constant activities to do.
she has a box of paper/pens/activity books/stickers that she can access and do alone at table away from sister.
she loves jigsaws but wants me to race her at them/comment on every piece she puts in etc.
she wants to do craft all the time but i cant constantly help her/join in.
she has a slide and swing in the garden but wants me out there.
when her sister naps i have spent the whole 1.5 hrs playing/doing playdoh/lego so she isnt ignored.
she has helped me dust through today so she does help with chores.
she doesnt seem to care if things get broken, she trod on her own hairband yesterday and snapped it and has done it before to another one, she didnt really care.

dd2 is only 16 months but has now learned to go from small chair onto settee onto windowsill after following smirking dd1. aaagh

Playdates, lots of them?

family is your DD mine? DD is just like this, she climbs, bounces, swings, jumps, rocks. She keeps still for zero time, not even in her sleep. She loves making dens and many a time I come into the front room to find my duvet cover brought in, hers, DSs, furniture turned upside down, clothes horses in their sides, covered with sheets. She can utterly utterly destroy a tidy room in seconds.

She does gymnastics and as already said, we chose our battles carefully as otherwise we would always be nagging/moaning (and beleive me when I am tired/irritable, thats how it can be, poor girl!).

Breathe In. Breathe Out. And repeat the Mantra. 'This Too Shall Pass'

Before you know it your front room will be spotless and all your furniture in one piece and you will come downstairs and sigh because it is all where it should be and there is nothing for you to do as she has all grown up.

had a few playdates planned but chicken pox has ended plans at moment so i understand she is bored.
also all playdates seem to be at our house, never get any invites back so i end up with 3 or 4 bouncy kids instead of just my 2.