Help!!

[kbusch]

I need all the advice and words of wisdom you can give me. I have a 20 month old son that loves to climb and get into mischief. He pushes the kitchen chairs around and climbs onto the stove, counters, and table. He climbs the couches and pulls the decor off my walls. He throws everything into the bathroom sink and turns on the water. He climbed onto my bed and pulled a glass of soda onto my husband's computer. I am beside myself. I have resorted to putting the kitchen chairs on the table so he can't reach them. I lock the doors to the bedrooms I don't want him to destroy. I have taken down the decor on my walls for his safety. I don't know what to do. I tell him no and he will turn around and do it again. I feel like I am trapped by locking the doors and putting all the chairs up. I hate it. What do I do?

[eniese]

Have you tried time out for any of this? Saying no to a 20 month old doesn't always cut it. Try making him sit in a chair (in a quiet, boring part of the house) for about 2 minutes when he does something dangerous. Make sure you tell him what the new limits are and what the consequences of disobeying are. It's fine to let a kid be a little rowdy, but climbing on kitchen appliances and pulling pictures off the wall just isn't safe. Depending on the layout of the house, you can also use safety gates to block off the kitchen and any other areas you want to keep him out of.

[jaxon1015]

Are you a stay at home mom? or Does he attend daycare? Reason why I ask, is he may need some extra outlet then just at home. Something like getting cabin fever. If he attends daycare, he may be able to do the climbing there, and doesn't know when he's not allowed to when at home, so some boundaries need to be set or some activities where he's ALLOWED to climb needs to invented. Maybe building forts with pillows, blankets or whatever you have around the house and making some kind of obstacle course for him. If you show him the correct way to be able climb and play at home, it will be easier for him to understand what is NOT acceptable. But, it's gonna take alot of time and persistance on your part. We had to do that for our son, as well. He likes to climb and bounce on the furniture, so we set aside some time every day for him to do it and in different ways with obstacle courses through the house and when he's done with it and wants to move on, he has no interest in doing it again...at least until tomorrow (sorry, huge run-on sentence). Good luck and have fun experimenting!!!

[Kerisweetpea]

my son is 21 months, and i have the same problem, but my house is set up in a way that i have gates blocking off most parts of the house. but what i do when he does stuff like climb on the couch or whatever he finds and does stuff he's not supposed to is i will tell him no and i will put him in time out for atleast 3 minutes or until he stops screaming. and as you know they dont sit still so i put him in his pack-n-play for time out so he is confined to one area with no toys, or anything that he can touch or watch! then when i take him out i will give him hug and kisses and go to whatever landed him in time out and tell him "this is a no no its only pretty you look at it but dont touch" and it works for a little while and if you keep at it he will get sick and tired of being in time out and eventually leave it alone! its working out for my son he's getting to were he will only try to touch things and when you say "do you want a time out?" he will say no and walk away and play with his toys.

Hope this helps i know how frustrating it can be, just hang in there it will get better.....

[MommaC]

Teach him some boundaries! You're jumping through all these hoops, but it's so unnecessary. Yes, you'll have to supervise him pretty closely for a while, but instituting some rules and reinforcing them consistently will go a long way toward promoting sanity in your home. My daughter is 16 months, and she is very aware of what to touch, what not to touch, what she can do, and what she's not allowed to do. Sure she breaks the rules every once in a while, but not so often that it's driving me bonkers. We used finger spankings consistently to teach her what she coudln't touch. Nothing extreme. First we'd tell her "no touch". If she did it again, we'd repeat "no touch" and slap her fingers. A couple of books that I appreciate for their ideas regarding rules and discipline are:
How to Get the Best From Your Children, by Jo Frost (reads like a magazine--pretty pictures, practical advice)
Don't Make Me Count to Three, by Ginger Plowman (a pretty short book about disciplining children, even the really young ones...good, specific advice with plenty of examples...encouraging and practical)
Good luck to you!