My 20 month old needs to learn to respect her environment. She constantly...

Heidi

New member
...destructs the house, Any advice? She is constantly getting into everything she shouldn't and I can not keep my house in order. I can not keep on top of the everyday chores such as washing as most of my time I'm either chasing after or cleaning up after her. She climbs on everything and anything and is a danger to herself. Although she has a beautiful side, she is constantly on the go and many people have said to me they've never known a child that is so full on. I have tried to reason with her, distract her, put her in the naughty corner and so on. Nothing works. She will sometimes even put herself in the naughty corner when she knows she's in trouble.She has so much energy, but it's also a matter of her thinking she can do what she wants and she doesn't respect our authority. We cant block the kitchen off and she consistently gets into the fridge and I'm forever wiping up eggs,drinks or cream etc. We have put locks on the fridge to stop her from getting in, but she has figured out that if she tugs the door hard enough, the stopper comes unstuck. She doesn't seem to misbehave out of rebellion, she is always happy, she is not sneaky or mischievous as such so I'm unsure as to whether she fully understands, although I'm sure she's smart enough to know, she just has a need to explore and play with EVERYTHING but her toys!!! Can anyone help PLEASE????????????
 
My goodness, our daughters can be TWINS!!

She is 20 months and i can't keep up with her! Especially with the fridge!! Every minute she's on the kitchen level, she is in the fridge, up to no good!

And believe me, they ARE smart enough to know... i think they're just testing us... i can take her out of the kitchen 10 times in a row and she comes right back for more.

I tried the corner thing... she'll do something wrong, say "corner" with a big smile and go stand there, all innocent...little bugger!

I'm sorry, I don't really have any advice because I'm stumped myself but I feel better knowing it's not just me and my parenting skills out there...

Good luck and take care..

PS: I also have an older son and when my daughter was born everyone kept telling me how much more behaved girls are then boys... WRONG!!
 
She's not even two yet. This (and I don't mean to be curt) is just how it is for a lot of toddlers. I just had to end up putting alot of our things in the barn until our kids were older. As long as you are telling her no and removing her from situations she shouldn't be in, there's not a whole lot more you can do. Wait it out, it does get better:)
 
Totally the age, my daughters 2 this week and she's into EVERYTHING and very destructive. I make her clean up her messes and remove the items that make the worse messes.
 
You have a busy, bright daughter. Not a problem child. She is 20 months old. She want to do things and she will not climb any higher than she feels safe. Right now, just keep up with her, keep her learning, The house will be there, people really understand when you have a busy child that the child is MORE importanat than the house. Eventually that will even out .
And she doesn't understand your authority. She understand what she can do.
Put a short bungee cord around the handles of the fridge and put a padlock on them.
I have a friend whose 22 month old got to the top of her fridge, got her cell phone off it, (safe keeping ) and washed it and was trying to dry it in the oven when the oven alarm woke her ar 4 am. Kids think. All the time. This is an very exciting and exhausting period for parents.
kids are people and people are strange.
good luck. She is a wonderful child. Treasure her. The house will stand.

I had a friend whose daughter ATE her house. Chewed all the wood window ledges, door frames, couch arms, table legs, coffee table. Chewed on everything. Her mother said it was worse than having a puppy. She chewed all the down to metal inlays. Her parents called her Daughter Destructo. Took her to doctors, she chewed on the doctors chairs. Not just teethed. Chewed.
One day she stopped. Just like that. By that time she had done thousands of dollars of damage to the house. Yes, the parents took precautionary measures, but it did not phase the child. she would chew.
 
Wow. Sounds like you are going to spend the next few years being a very lucky, but very worn out parent.

What kinds of activities does she get to do outside of the home? Since you are constantly cleaning up after her anyhow, can you let her run around the park for a few hours in the morning to wear herself down for an afternoon nap? - That energy she has is a wonderful gift! You should find a good place for her to use it instead of trying to contain it. (Not accusing you of trying to contain it, but I don't know what you are doing about it.)

And what kinds of activities do you try doing with her? If she enjoys making a mess out of the eggs, she might enjoy some finger paints (if you can find a good place to do them and a good place to put them up after use) or just let her play with crayons. Singing and dancing to some music could be a fun way to get out some energy too.

Do you have a yard she can play in? When Cheyenne was little, we had a kiddie pool in the shade. I let her splash around for a few hours almost every day and it really helped her get out some energy. We also had dogs for her to run around and play with.

And what is her room like? Does she have a space where you can contain her and give her a cardboard box or something to entertain herself?

Those are the first things I can think of. - Just finding a good place such as the park for her to run off her energy. She sounds like a little explorer - if you encourage it I bet she'll be really smart as she grows up. (at least smart about the stuff she is interested in)

You can also look at her diet. Perhaps speak to her doctor about what's going on. ... Is she getting plenty of sleep? Healthy food? Not too much sugar or caffeine?

Good luck figuring it out.
 
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