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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Behaviour advice needed, please!

21 replies

Birdly · 19/07/2006 08:09

Any ideas welcome on how to overcome a couple of ongoing minor (but annoying!) problems. DS is 17 months and several times a day pulls everything off bookshelves/CD holders etc. We screened off the TV to stop him pressing all the buttons on the TV/DVD/amp etc but he can now pull the screen off and does so several times a day. Whenever he does these things, I get down to his level and say no very firmly but it's sometimes hard to catch him in the act as he generally keeps his best tricks for when I'm out of the room!
We also have dd who's 3 in Oct. She's a little poppet really but seems to be in a phase of refusing to listen to me. Most of the time I'm completely ignored, and if I have to tell her off she just laughs. As I'm sure many of you know, this is very frustrating!
Any ideas, anyone? My lines of communication seem to be broken!

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

kittywits · 19/07/2006 08:20

My advice is keep doing what you're doing. These stages are so annoying, but they will pass eventually. Just accept that for a while alot of your possesions are going to end up on the floor!
At about your ds age my dd2 posted a whole box of crayons into the video recorder and they melted evrerwhere? Sorry, not much help, heat too much!

trinityrhino · 19/07/2006 08:24

we have the same problem with 15 month old dd2 at the mo, pulling everything out or everywhere and pushing all the buttons on the dvd player and tele, also she posts things in the kitchen bin if shes allowed in the kitchen (dd1 sometime forgets to keep the door shut)we've lost a remote and one of dsd1's fave trainers before we realised wht she was doing (didn't think to look in the bin and then bin emptied, binmen come and gone, things lost)
doing the same as you but to no effect, not really sure what to do for the best, hoping she'll get bored with it

kittywits · 19/07/2006 08:46

Watch out for stuff going down the loo as well!!

bizzi · 19/07/2006 08:58

Heehee Kittywits, made me laugh, dd1 was about the same age when she found some revolting wine gums and posted them into the tumble dryer! The clean up took days.
Birdly, any chance of moving furniture around temporarily, sofa in front of book shelves, coffee table infront of cd's or whatever. Once he's lost easy access he may give up and move onto something else less annoying...

glassofwine · 19/07/2006 09:36

Our tv/video combi thing was broken, we sent if off to be repaired - it came back with a fairy wand selotaped to it, which had been posted in the video, how they fitted it in I'll never know.

There are no solutions to the pulling everything off, pressing buttons etc except moving the stuff out of the way until this stage passes, which it will.

I also have a three year old with selective hearing, try not to repeat yourself too many times as they just teach themselvesnot to listen at all!

Original poster

Birdly · 19/07/2006 16:39

Thanks everyone who replied - nice to hear from others in the same boat, and some funny stories too! As I feared, there's no magic wand to wave. We've blocked off a few bits and pieces with furniture but ds is very persistent and seems to be able to wiggle into tiny spaces.
Dh blocked off the whole of the TV stack (high-rise bloke-type set-up with lots of gadgets)with a sheet of mdf to stop the button pressing but ds can now remove it, and does so with glee about 20 times a day. He's already broken one DVD player and we've had to shell out for another one (bet they don't factor that kind of thing in when all these surveys come out telling you how much it costs to bring up children!). His favourite trick is to remove the Sky card and post it into the DVD player.
In my more positive moments, I try to convince myself he's just very intelligent!

OP posts:

bizzi · 19/07/2006 17:16

Oh highly intelligent birdly I'm sure

kittywits · 19/07/2006 18:33

I think you will find that you will get through many, many dvd players. You're lucky you know where you sky card gets posted!

riab · 19/07/2006 18:52

I decided today the solution was to go live in a tent, cooler, no expensive DVD players etc and minimal tidying to do.

My 15 month old spent 30 minutes while I was bringing in the tesco order pulling out every single wetwipe in the packet and then scopping out the sudacream and eating it before taking his sudacreamed self over to my favourite suede bag (the handle had fallen down the side of the table so he could pull it off) and destroying two credit cards.
I sighed, was thankful he had stayed out from under my feet and not tried to break for freedom into the garden/main road and prayed sudacream isn't posinous.

kittywits · 19/07/2006 19:02

Blimey, sudocreme? That's really BAD news!!!

cleaninglady · 19/07/2006 19:24

have ds of 23 months who started similar behaviour about 6 months ago but if any consolation seems to be getting bored, although has broken one dvd player and one video so far!! the tv on and off was a particular annoyance especially of dd 4.5 yo ! got some really heavy duty sellotape stuff and taped the tv button into on position so only can be turned on and off via remote control also used same tape to tape sky viewing card into place - seemed to work !!

riab · 19/07/2006 20:45

Kitty,

the sudacream incident was yesterday and so far there's no ill effects! I don't think that much went in really and I watched him VERY carefully for the rest of the day. but a warning note - the tops of sudacream tubs are very easy for determined youngsters to pop off and he is still trying to get at it when I use it on his rash?!? heavens knows why but he seems to like the taste? he also tries to drink baby lotion, suncream and regularly eats my lipstick or lipbalm.

kittywits · 19/07/2006 22:12

Riab, glad he's ok. Actually, I was thinking more of the terrible mess it makes on anything it touches! how is your handbag!?

riab · 20/07/2006 20:51

handbag is ruined sighs and yes it did make the most awful mess, funniest part was today when I got it down again to put on his bum and found 2 coins buried in it as well!

Original poster

Birdly · 21/07/2006 12:09

Sorry to hear about handbag, Riab. Nice handbags and Sudocrem just do not go together!
Ds is keen on the Sudocrem too, and always tries to grab it when having a nappy change. He usually covers himself in it - yep, those tops really do come off easily. He can get the top off the Vaseline as well. Last time, he buried the lid sideways in the Vaseline and I haven't quite got round to the mucky task of pulling it out and cleaning it all up yet.
Have just discovered the power of Sellotape, cleaninglady. Sadly, ds sussed it after about a day and can now pull it off. Will have to look for something a bit more heavy duty, I think!

OP posts:

JackieNo · 21/07/2006 12:13

How about using a playpen or travel cot for those moments when you need to do unpacking shopping, or something else? You might not want to put them in there for long, but it might help if there was somewhere you knew they were safe and had some toys, that you could just pop them as necessary?

dreamteamgirl · 21/07/2006 12:20

Packing/ brown tape instead of seelotape, and a long enough bit that they cant find the edge to start peeling it off.

Re the books, DVDs and CDs. I just let him do it, for 2 weeks I picked up 6 times a day and now he doesnt bother anymore. Guess the novelty just wore off?

Cassoulet · 21/07/2006 13:29

Sudocreme! I remember..... when my dd was about 18m, she got it. She also got all our loo rolls unrolled, a bottle of shampoo. It was the funniest thing I'd ever seen (some things still show the signs of being sudocremed and she's nearly 7!)

sparklemagic · 21/07/2006 13:47

jackie, I totally agree, a playpen is really sensible for times like this. I used a travel cot in the living room and it kept DS (and some possessions!) safe while I did things like bring shopping in.

I don't think you can call this 'behaviour' it's simply natural hard-wired curiosity which they need to be protected from at times!

alison222 · 21/07/2006 14:34

We too have parcel tape overthe sky card - I got fed up of looking for it.

We have a video guard that goes over the hole to stop thinkgs being postedinto this

Wish they could find a solution for CD and DVD players though

riab · 21/07/2006 23:02

I've got the playpen, its the unexpected things that throw me!

I liek to encrouage him to roam about and he is very independant and happy to play on his own - I guess the flipside of that is the 'rescuing' of DVD's handbags etc!

Note to self REMEMBER TO PUT RENTAL DVD'S ON VERY HIGH SHELF!!!

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