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!