How do I stop him from doing this?

[melscurry]

Hi, I am a 21 year old mother and wife of a three year old VERY active boy and I am pregnant with my second child. My problem is that everytime I wash my son's clothes, fold them up, and put them away in his dresser, I come back to his room only to find the clothes all around the floor mixed with dirty clothes. I have made him pick them up and put them away, I show him where to put his dirty clothes, but he still continues to do this. Does anybody have a child who does this or have any advice as to how I should stop this? He will be starting school soon and so will I, not to mention the fact that I am pregnant so I would hate to have to rummage through his clothes every morning to see what is clean or not...

[Newmom!]

Try to give him a similar activity (emptying out a container) that will not be such a problem for cleaning up. If that doesn't work then consider having a "clean clothes basket" (that looks very different from his dirty clothes hamper) and let him know that he CAN empty out his dresser, but every item of clothing needs to make it into the Clothes Catcher. That way he can empty as he wants, but you don't have to rewash clothes.

Help him be able to then put the clothes away himself by putting pictures of pants, short sleeve shirts, long sleeve shirts, socks, etc on the dresser drawers so he knows where to put everything. Don't bother to work on folding until later - show him how you fold, but don't expect it from him yet.

Good luck.

[melscurry]

Well I've shown him how to put his dirty clothes in his bin in the closet and he knows how to do it but he doesn't do it unless I'm standing over him reminding him to put them in the closet. And he has a laundry bag where I put his clean clothes from the dryer (and where I leave them when I sometimes do not fold them right away...) which looks completely different from his dirty clothes bin but he still throws them all together. He mostly does it at night when it is time for him to go to sleep and I'll see them all on the floor in the morning.

[Newmom!]

Consider rewarding him every night the clothes stay in the dresser - like a sticker on a chart. Every 4 nights in a row he keeps his clothes in a dresser he earns and even bigger prize (like a trip to the pet store to look at all the animals or like special activity time with you with something fun and rare). As he is able to go 4 nights in a row, challenge him to go 5 then 6 then 7 nights, etc. Eventually it will be habit to keep the clothes in the dresser.

I don't have any more ideas, home someone else can post something. In the meantime, try the above reward system.

[Zack_Jenn]

One of the quickest ways to get rid of some of the stress is to move his dirty clothes basket to a different room. That way if he does empty the dresser at least it isn't getting mixed with the dirty clothes.

I don't know if your child is as busy as ours, but she has been classified as a Strong-Willed Child (www.cantmakeme.com/swctest.htm can help determine if he is and get more suggestions to help you & his teachers with him). This can give you some good ideas of ways to curb his behavior. We have been using a couple of her suggestions and they have been working! 3 days without any serious behavior issues (that were happening multiple times daily before).

The thing that has been working so far for us is allowing her to choose her own punishment for breaking the rule. You ask him why he likes to empty his dresser (he may surprise you and you may be able to find a way to accomadate him), tell him why you would like him to keep his clothes in the dresser (Something that makes it personal to him like to give him more room to play with his toys) and tell him that even though (his reason) he needs to keep them put away because (your reason) and if he doesn't there has to be a punishment. And then ask him what he thinks the punishment for breaking the rule should be. If you aren't willing to leave the punishment totally up to him you can give him some acceptable options. After he picks you follow through each time with the punishment he chose reminding him exactly what it is, why he is being punished, that he chose it, and you are just helping him follow through. Seems a little advanced for a 3 year old, but our daughter will only be 4 in November so it really isn't!

Good luck!

[melscurry]

One of the quickest ways to get rid of some of the stress is to move his dirty clothes basket to a different room. That way if he does empty the dresser at least it isn't getting mixed with the dirty clothes.

I don't know if your child is as busy as ours, but she has been classified as a Strong-Willed Child (www.cantmakeme.com/swctest.htm can help determine if he is and get more suggestions to help you & his teachers with him). This can give you some good ideas of ways to curb his behavior. We have been using a couple of her suggestions and they have been working! 3 days without any serious behavior issues (that were happening multiple times daily before).

The thing that has been working so far for us is allowing her to choose her own punishment for breaking the rule. You ask him why he likes to empty his dresser (he may surprise you and you may be able to find a way to accomadate him), tell him why you would like him to keep his clothes in the dresser (Something that makes it personal to him like to give him more room to play with his toys) and tell him that even though (his reason) he needs to keep them put away because (your reason) and if he doesn't there has to be a punishment. And then ask him what he thinks the punishment for breaking the rule should be. If you aren't willing to leave the punishment totally up to him you can give him some acceptable options. After he picks you follow through each time with the punishment he chose reminding him exactly what it is, why he is being punished, that he chose it, and you are just helping him follow through. Seems a little advanced for a 3 year old, but our daughter will only be 4 in November so it really isn't!

Good luck!

That sounds like a really good idea. I have been doing the opposite lately though (putting his clean clothes in my room). Nonetheless, he hasn't been doing it lately and I think with him starting school now, it will take his mind off of doing that completely.

[addies_mom22]

if it were just him i'd say to try all that, but with another baby on the way, i only have one suggestion for you...
DRAWER LOCKS
end of story

[jeasongilspi]

am so paranoid that I am pregnant, I can't even sleep at night and at random times throughout the day I just want to throw a tantrum or do SOMETHING. How can I make that stop?



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