'Naughty' 18mo old

[TyrannoSoreArse]

Hello Oh Wise MNetters,

DS is nearly 18mo. He's a very active chap and likes to poke/lick everything. There are a few areas of the house that he's known from a very young age are not for him e.g. the phone cradle, the big umbrella plant we call Trevor, the drawer full of DVDs. Whenever he's gone over to these or done anything with him we've said 'No, TyrannoSmallArse, No' and if necessary removed him. Seemed to work, he lost interest in them.

Recently he's taken to walking over to these forbidden areas and making sure that we can see him. He looks at us over his shoulder, smiles his most beautific smile and then: throws the phone cradle/shakes Trevor/flings the drawer open. When we say no he laughs. When we pick him up and move him he laughs and goes straight back there. Obviously we know that what he's after is attention, never mind that it's the negative kind; but we're at a bit of a loss to know what to do about it/how to react.

Does anyone here have any experience of this and any tips on what we can do?

(BTW, I'm sure no one would suggest it anyway, but we do not shout and we do not smack!)

My DD started this at 13 months. While I tried saying no and distracting her, in the end the one thing that worked was turning away from her. Hard when she was scratching my walls (!) She did sometimes do it more and at that point I left the room. All she wanted was attention so ignoring the behaviour seemed to work. Difficult if they are doing something dangerous though!

That sounds very sensible, thank you Happiest. We'll start doing that tomorrow. He's not doing dangerous stuff (yet) just daft things he knows he shouldn't. Thank you!

My 18 month old sounds exactly the same. I say No to her, then if she does it again, I move to a different part of the room and pick up a magazine, open some bills letters, do something else - she's very nosy and will be over in a flash. I also use exactly the same thing when she has a tantrum.

Its not naughty, its normal

I know that doesn't help but you are doing all that you can do.

all you can do is remove and distract, remove and distract, neck more gin, remove and distract.
it is soooo wearing, but IIRC they stop by themselves somewhere around 2-2.5.

wiggle I said to DH that Happiest had suggested we leave the room and he said 'He's so bloody nosey, he'll definitely follow us'

Black thank you. My mum was/is ridiculously strict (IMO) and came to stay for a few days last week. I could see she was really having to stuff her fists in her mouth to keep from saying anything and I kept saying 'It's normal! It's normal! It's bloody irritating but it's normal!'

Stanley , that's it, give it to me straight...

Reminds me when my mil came to stay, she kept tellin my 16 month old she was naughty, had to have words in the end.

Its all part of learning even tho it drives me up the wall

There are some things in the house you have to give up and move though. We packed away all the place mats and coasters because dd chewed them repeatedly - I think I could risk having them out again now I'd I knew where they were!
Otoh they might move in to something worse - shovin things down the loo is really common and I think I'm
Lucky dd1 doesn't do that!

Agree it's all part of the learning process, testing the boundaries. I rarely put on my sternest voice with my 21 mo DS, but when i do he knows he should take notice because it's probably because he's doing something dangerous. At the moment we're trying to curb his throwing of objects at people. He gets 2 chances to stop, then on the 3rd we take away what he's playing with. We replace it with something he can throw, like a soft ball. My DH and I regularly have words about his over-use of the word 'no' and 'naughty', but tbh DS is now at the age he understands most things, knows the boundaries, but tests them anyway to assert his independence. I do need to get a bit tougher i think - but then maybe my DH and I balance each other out.