13 month old dd destroying books, suggestions ?

[babycat]

Not sure if there is any solution to this but just wondered if anyone else has experienced this. Dd has been fascinated with books for a while now but despite having a selection of hardback supposedly 'toddler-friendly' books , she has managed to pull them apart and rip bits off which I find soul destroying. Its probably because she is bored and I should be playing with her more .

it is not because she is bored or you are not playing with her enough...! it is exploration and finding out about things, cloth books are good

chill

she'll stop it in a few weeks

really, you won't even see this as a blip on your radar in a few months time

She'll grow out of it.

DS3 used to eat huge chunks of his board books.

DS did just the same. I tried taking them away if he tore them...didn't change a thing. He grew out of it and it really good with books now. As Lulu said, it is exploration, but its really annoying. I still hate to see the books which have the spines torn off, or the corners nibbled.

i give ds old magazines, i think they love to tear the paper,and he has free-range on a pile of indestructible board books.
I have a few "precious" books that I keep out of his reach but apart from that I just repair any torn books, I see it as all part of learning to love books.

Oh, and nothing to do with her being bored cos you're not playing with her, she's just exploring. If you think about it tearing paper is pretty good fun.

don't make her feel bad about it, she's enjoying herself. soul-destroying is a bit ott, i think. it's just a bit of cardboard, not the compleat works of shakey.

the only solution is to keep your books out of her reach and resign yourself to her books looking "loved". It's how children that age interact with all their toys - they can't be expected to know that books are special and deserve respect!

Anyway don't worry, it's not a phase that lasts long. DS probably grew out of it by... ooo... 18 months?

So it's normal then. A friend of mine gave me some books that her dd had when she was younger (she is 7 now) and they were in near perfect condition so I've been a bit upset that my dd seems to have such lack of respect for her things. Guess I just expect too much.

perhaps she was a dull child who didn't explore? or perhaps (more likely) they were presents given after the child was too old for them and so hardly used. she may have chucked a large pile of sodden, chewed cardboardy ones already.

Isn't baby Aitch reading "The Adventures of Lil Hamlet in Daneland" yet Aitch?

Actually DS's first casualty WAS Hamlet! When I found him he had torn off the cover and most of the first act.

So I have been found out - as I completely ignore all my own advice about keeping my books out of DS's reach. In our house books get stacked on any horizontal surface, I just try to think of it like wilderbeest - there are so many in the herd that if a few fall prey to the huntsman, it's not a tragedy.

lol. her taste runs more to the mr men at the moment, i am horrified to say. they are a load of rubbish.

oh well, could be worse. I have spent HOURS, HOURS I tell you, reading to DS from Dear Zoo, Each Peach, Meg and Mog and other such masterpieces. And has he learnt any of the words from them? No. But I found out yesterday that he can say "iggle piggle" extremely clearly, despite having watched the Night Garden all of about 10 times.

Tcha. Children. I shall waste my talents on the cat instead.

i ate about half of 'Mr Small' and it didn;t do me any harm

most of DS and DDs early books are teeth marked and drawn on, signs of thorough enjoyment

Thanks everyone. S'pose I was over-reacting a bit. Hopefully, she will learn to love books and be reading Shakespeare before long if I remember to keep The Complete Works out of her reach !