2yo seems to think naughty step is a game

[SqueezyB]

I put my 2yo on the naughty step for the first time today. She cried and said sorry when I went to get her, so I figured it had worked.

About 10 mins later she started hitting me and laughing! I told her to stop it etc etc and she said 'naughty step!' and pointed. I eventually did put her on the step, she sat there singing and shuffling around on the bottom 2 steps, when I went to get her she said sorry but grinned, and then 5 mins later did it all over again!

Now for the 3rd time she's started throwing her toys around and hitting me and saying 'naughty step' - I think she thinks it's all a big game. So I've just shut her in her room where she's currently knocking on the door shouting 'knock knock mummy' but doesn't seem particularly upset.

Have I done it all wrong??

I don't think a 2 year old would necessarily understand the naughty step tbh.

I think she's probably too young too tbh. DD is 2.8 and I find a combination of telling her not to do it, distracting and ignoring to work best. 2 yos like to rebel so I think the naughty step becomes a battle ofwills with them imo.

what do you do instead though? Do you just say 'don't do that'? Up til now just telling her off and making her say sorry has been enough, but now sometimes it seems that she thinks she can do anything and just say sorry, only to repeat it 5 mins later! Don't get me wrong, she's generally pretty good, but she's been playing up more and more since turning 2, I think she's testing the boundaries more and more.

Examples include deliberately tipping a cup of water all over the floor, when I ask her to put her duplo away (which she normally does) saying no and kicking or throwing it instead, refusing to get dressed and screaming blue murder when I try to dress her - even though she normally lets me dress her without a fuss. Would you just ignore all that?