Toddler boy off the rails and trashing the house

[Tether]

Advice on how to stop my toddler boy from trashing the house and breaking all my things would be gladly recieved.

This week alone he has thrown everything out of the bathroom window, smashing the soap dish etc, poured fence paint on the patio, poured flour on the kitchen flour, smeared my very expensive cleanser all over the bathroom walls, ripped up some of my favourite plants in the garden and I have just gone up stairs to find he has sprayed an entire new can of dry shampoo all over his sister's bed. Nothing in the form of discipline: naughty step, sent to room, taken favourite teddy away, smacked him (yes at end of tether), shouted at him, tried to reason with him has worked.
He is lovely, charming and good talker and great 3 and half year old, but I started to feel very bedragled everytime I leave a room I come back to find it trashed, this has been escalting for months, I have marker pen all over my bedroom walls, stains on everything and have had to thrown away literally hundreds of pounds worth of my own stuff that he has ruined. He goes to nursery has a lovely time and behaves well.

Help advice needed badly !

Dont leave things like paint, flour and make up where he can get his hands on them for a start,

Sounds like he is seeking attention?
Praise his good behaviour and down play the bad, ignore it if possible?

what are you doing while he is getting on with this?

i'd say if he is that destructive (and i feel your pain, i have one too) then you need to be keeping a closer eye on him so he doesn't get the opportunity to do it.

First things first you need to be making things SAFE.

DOn't leave the bathroom open if he climbs up to throw things out.

DOn't leave paint where he can reach it.
If you have a favourite product then don't leave it within reach.

Secondly, be consistent. You may confuse him with swapping the punishment. You have to punish in the same way every single time they do something naughty. If you choose naughty step then stick to it rigidly!

At nearly 4 - and assuming he has no special needs that should be taken into account - he is able to understand (or start to understand) the consequences of bad behaviour.

THat is my rule with 3 of different ages

HI

Keep everything you do not want him to touch out of reach.

Lock rooms you do not want trashed or keep a constant eye on him.

Then provide stuff that he can trash such as large paper in the garden with paint. Find things that he can dismantle and break, help him make playdough, mud pies, stick paper on a wall and let him draw on the paper. You will need to show him how to use the stuff that you give him so that he knows what to do. There is no point in telling him off. He is going though a normal developmental stage and currently his interest is seeing how things come apart, fly and look when drawn, painted on. He is fine at nursery because he probaly spends the whole time there painting on things, buiding and knocking things down.

Hope that helps

Cazi

Haha LOL HoochieMomma. Too true!
Sorry not much advice. I've got a three and a half year old girl. She doesn't so much trash things as have hour-long tantrums on the floor. It's wearing but a different issue to yours

Does he have any younger siblings? It does sound like attention seeking.