I took away all my sons toys.

[Anonymous]

He trashes the place ALL DAY LONG and it's DRIVING ME CRAZY. It's the only way he plays. He goes around dumping everything out or throwing it at me. I finally grabbed all the toys and put them on the balcony. I never have a clear walking path. I have tripped on toys so many times. Moms of boys is this typical? How can I handle this better? We don't have a playroom as we live in a 1 bedroom apartment.

[Anonymous]

How old is your son? Throwing them at you does not sound typical at all, unless you're talking about an infant...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How old is your son? Throwing them at you does not sound typical at all, unless you're talking about an infant...

He's almost 2. And they're mostly wooden toys so it hurts!

[Anonymous]

Yes, it's typical but it sounds like he has too much stuff. Try rotating toys. Get into the habit of doing cleanup when he goes from one activity to another.

[Anonymous]

That is the essential nature of the 2 year old.

[Anonymous]

Kindly, you should do some reading. It is completely developmentally appropriate for an almost two year old to dump toys everywhere. I have a just turned 2 y/o and we practice putting toys away, but I don't expect perfection at this age. I would take away a toy if he was throwing it at you on purpose, but that's still not at all surprising behavior for the age.

[Anonymous]

My two year old would never throw anything at me. I have drilled that into her. A swift no and then tell him " we only throw balls". The dumping drives me nuts but that is the nature of two year olds.

[Anonymous]

I have 2 boys (4 yo and 2 yo) and this is definitely not normal. They do get a bit "crazy" sometimes (especially before nap/sleep times or if the weather is bad and they haven't had a chance to run around outside) but I wouldn't tolerate that at all. Sometimes we don't let them play with toys but tell them to climb instead. We don't have a TV or couch set up in the house because we took over the living room to have a climbing dome.

It's your job to give each toy a home. It's your job to tell your boy that he needs to put the thing he's playing with back in the box/shelf before he can have the next thing. Each book back on the shelf before getting the next one. We started this at 1 year old. It was a lot of work, and we needed to reinforce it often (and still now) but so much better than the alternative.

And yes, it also sounds like you have too much crap laying around. We pack away toys and only have a few out for choice at any time.

Every now and then, I need to take away toys, if they aren't being played with carefully. It happens very rarely though. They've never thrown a toy at me, that's outrageous. They'd be straight to the naughty mat long before they did that.

Oh, and you should also think about the toys you have. We don't have any plastic crap. A couple of nice vehicles with many moving parts (that they're careful with), but mostly building things, puzzles, books, stuff like that. Stuff that it's obvious how to play with it. And then we show them the right way to play with stuff.

[Anonymous]

Dumping stuff out is typical of any 2 year old. Throwing things at you...you need to nip that in the bud.

[Anonymous]

That's way too many toys for a two year old. Keep them on the balcony and rotate a few in every few days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have 2 boys (4 yo and 2 yo) and this is definitely not normal. They do get a bit "crazy" sometimes (especially before nap/sleep times or if the weather is bad and they haven't had a chance to run around outside) but I wouldn't tolerate that at all. Sometimes we don't let them play with toys but tell them to climb instead. We don't have a TV or couch set up in the house because we took over the living room to have a climbing dome.

It's your job to give each toy a home. It's your job to tell your boy that he needs to put the thing he's playing with back in the box/shelf before he can have the next thing. Each book back on the shelf before getting the next one. We started this at 1 year old. It was a lot of work, and we needed to reinforce it often (and still now) but so much better than the alternative.

And yes, it also sounds like you have too much crap laying around. We pack away toys and only have a few out for choice at any time.

Every now and then, I need to take away toys, if they aren't being played with carefully. It happens very rarely though. They've never thrown a toy at me, that's outrageous. They'd be straight to the naughty mat long before they did that.

Oh, and you should also think about the toys you have. We don't have any plastic crap. A couple of nice vehicles with many moving parts (that they're careful with), but mostly building things, puzzles, books, stuff like that. Stuff that it's obvious how to play with it. And then we show them the right way to play with stuff.

Op here: He doesn't really play with any toys. He goes around dumping or throwing his toys. I try to make him pick up the toys after he dumps them but he doesn't get it. He runs away laughing at me. He's been rearranging the furniture now that he doesn't have toys. I went to the bathroom and came back to find a heavy shelf was in the middle of the living room!

[Anonymous]

DD is younger than your son is so I may not be in a place to judge but that punishment seems harsh for an almost 2 year old. For throwing I would think that a quick reinforcement and time out would be more appropriate.

[Anonymous]

Your son probably thinks you're psycho. Did you do it as a punishment? If so, he likely has no understanding of why you did it. Sounds like you need to limit his toys and show him how to play with things. If he likes to throw things, get him toys that are appropriate for throwing and allow him to use those.

[Anonymous]

You should take your kid outside and burn off energy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is younger than your son is so I may not be in a place to judge but that punishment seems harsh for an almost 2 year old. For throwing I would think that a quick reinforcement and time out would be more appropriate.

NP here. It may be an overkill reaction for sure, but at not even 2, he's probably not aware of it. This could actually be a good thing for OP -- she should keep them away and just bring back one or two items. Then rotate.