It's Everywhere!...

[ivybendorf]

Okay, how did other parents handle this stage?

My son and my daughter share a room. Neither are in cribs, so they have free reign of their room during nap time and bedtime. They usually do just fine, playing together and not bothering one another while they are sleeping. The problem is, they seem to really, REALLY enjoy tearing all their clothes out of their dresser and throwing them all over the place! And Nana is a shopaholic, so they have A LOT of clothes. I have tried time and time again to tell my daughter to leave them alone, but of course, she doesn't.

For about a month their clothes have lived in totes in my closet, and its really irritating Dad and I. We are considering putting their dressers in the spare bedroom for now. How did other parents handle this? What age do you think we can put their dressers back in their room? TIA!

 

[Dadu2004]

Use the child locks that are put to keep cabinet doors closed. That should keep them out!

 

[Claire64]

My 2 year old did the exact same thing a couple of times. Each time he did it, I told him he had to put all the clothes back in the drawers before he came out of his room. This might work for your son, but if your daughter is the main culprit, I second sarushjr's suggestion of child locks.

 

[Good Wolf]

They aren't in school so do with their clothes what we do with toys. Take away all the clothes they throw on the floor. When they are down to nothing but a pair of Spider Man undies they will get the point....or they'll embrass the freedom of running around in nothing but undies.

 

[chars24]

Try and work on explaining them that mommy doesn't like it. promise a treat or something they like if they don't take the clothes out. It might work! If it doesn't, child locks can be used.

 

[Dadu2004]

Eeeek. No disrespect Chars, but giving treats rewards them for something they should be doing anyway. It would be like, "great job on brushing your teeth...here's a cookie!" I'm not a big fan of giving rewards for anything they should be doing anyway.

 

[Kaytee]

I think yiu should make them fold it all and put it all away.
I agree no treats for not doing what they shouldn't be doing. THey should just have to put them away every time they pull them out

 

[Ari2]

My kids love throwing their clothes around, so everything either has childproof latches on it (such as the dresser in their room) or is behind a gate (the hamper and more stacks of clothes downstairs).

 

[musicmom]

I hung all their clothes up in the closet and put crates on the bottom and folded their shorts and pants and put them in there. Then I put a sliding lock on the top of the closet doors. I took their door off the hingest and put two baby gates stacked on top of each other so they couldn't escape.
You could always put one in the room by themselves and put the other in your bed to seperate them. It seems like the one year old would go to sleep so maybe you should take the three year old out.
ps. Mine quit taking naps at three years old.

 

[ivybendorf]

Ok, where do I start....

My son, at age 15 months, is a tank. He charges through baby gates. And tears off the doors to their closet.

My daughter, and 3 and a half, is a thief. She can pick her way through any babyproofing device imaginable, and she has.

Together they are the Tag Team of Terror.

(Not to mention I have not found a tool that will work on these drawers. Hubby has mentioned installing metal rings on each of the drawers and dresser top and padlocking a metal bar through all of them, yikes! Talk about hardware!)

They love each other so much, too, that they will not sleep without the other there. Even if they have Mom. They have never slept in the same room as me before, so having Mom around is like playtime all night! And the guest room is not safe for children. I can't believe they call it a bedroom, it has one exit and no windows. Its a fire hazard.

As for making them clean it up, I gave up on that. They love to help, putting clothes away with Mom is a reward for tearing them out! "Check it out, if we throw these clothes all over the place, Mom will come play in our room with us and we can pretend to be Mom! Awesome!"

And making them go naked.... Are you kidding?!?! I can barely manage to keep clothes ON them, taking them away will just encourage the nudity, LOL!

Thanks for the suggestions, though. Their dressers have been moved elsewhere until they are old enough to understand the reasoning of not ripping everything out!

 

[chars24]

Eeeek. No disrespect Chars, but giving treats rewards them for something they should be doing anyway. It would be like, "great job on brushing your teeth...here's a cookie!" I'm not a big fan of giving rewards for anything they should be doing anyway.

hey there, ya i got your point. i am still to experience this kind of situation, so maybe i am wrong! But IMHO, It is human psychology that if one is rewarded not to do something, the behavior doesn't usually get repeated. And i was not saying to treat the kids for everything good they do (here sorry to say you didn't get me), but to treat them when they do Not do something ridiculous and give them a clear message nicely, that too once in a while. And treating doesn't always mean sticking out a lollipop or a cookie, it might mean spending quality time together or taking them out somewhere. I think a three and a half year old can understand that mom is happy with what i didn't do so she is giving me a cookie/spending time with me/encouraging me/or taking me out... That was my perspective. But with kids you never know...i think you can't make them understand...is it...and every kid is different so maybe what Ivy has done was the best solution to the problem.