Toddler throwing

[LunaDreams]

My DS has just turned 2 and is an absolute monkey for throwing things across the room at the moment.

His particular favourites are throwing his plate and cutlery onto the floor at dinner time (often a full plate) and throwing our phones.

He also hits us but that tends to be when he's tired or particularly frustrated, whereas the throwing could be anytime.

He is my first so I don't know if this is usual or not?

We obviously ask him not to and have tried to get him to pass stuff he doesn't want to us or put it on the table but no luck.

I know he's very young but other children his age don't seem to do it so much. Any tips on how to handle it would be greatly appreciated!

Hey,

My DD is the exact same! I thought the same, as she’s the only one who seems to do it at nursery. However, when I spoke with colleagues, it’s quite a normal developmental step for some kids.
I haven’t found the answer yet, but over time it does get a bit less and you just need to try and be consistent with telling him not to do it. Distraction helps at times.
I find my daughter copies me a lot, so if she throws something, I will ignore her to begin with (as I find sometimes she does it just for a reaction!) & then model good behaviour.
Sometimes it works, other days it doesn’t unfortunately. She doesn’t like timeout at all, but if it’s really bad behaviour, we do use it. She normally doesn’t repeat the behaviour again on that same day. I also find now that she’s a bit older (2 years & 9 months) - the understanding is a lot better than when she just turned 2. The biting has finally stopped lol, so we’re also focusing on some other behaviours.
Over time they get used to routine, so he might hopefully stop throwing things. When I look back at my DD with her throwing things earlier this year, there’s a huge change! She now picks it up & takes it over the kitchen counter. There’s hope!

It gets better! But some take longer than others. My eldest had pretty much grown out of it by 2.5, but my twins still do it sometimes at nearly 3. Just keep relating yourself.... over..... and over..... and over.....

With the dinner time issue specifically, don't give him a plate full of food. Just put one or two pieces on the table/a placemat.

Keep the phone out of his reach.

With the other stuff, tell him no and take the thrown item away and don't give it back until the next day. Explain to him that it's gone now because it was thrown. But do it with as little attention as possible.

When he doesn't throw something, really, really praise him. Loads of attention. Look out for opportunities to do this. For example, put the food in front of him and if he puts it in his mouth, immediately loads of praise because he did the right thing. The same whenever he picks something up and puts it down again! 'Wow, good job DS, you gave that to me/put that away so nicely, great job!'.

I thought the thread was about how to throw a toddler! I'll get my coat.

@Stillamum3 there is time for that yet! A full roast dinner being thrown against the wall brought me close!

Thanks everyone for your responses and advice. I take comfort in knowing it sounds fairly typical and it does get better! Plus some very useful tips we'll be trying.

Wish me luck!

Me too! 😆

I remember the chucking food days fondly...not!

I ended up giving ours a plate of her food and then putting an empty plate next to it. For some reason it stopped food being deliberately chucked on the floor and they would just pass the food from one plate to another until they were ready to eat it!

Can he be given things to throw that are acceptable? He obviously loves throwing!

"Throwing foods is not allowed. You can throw this bean bag. Great job! Now you must help clean up the mess. Next you can throw more bean bags."

don't react to the throwing and praise lots him when he behaves nicely

is he hungry when he’s at the table? Can you avoid snacks before meals so that he has an appetite.

give him a couple of food items off his plate

phones in pockets, lots of positive attention on the child.