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Destructive Toddler
Hello All:
My friend Marcy has a 2-3ish year old little boy. He was just potty trained and is very destructive at night. He gets up to go to the bathroom and then will go to the kitchen, living room, bathroom and start tearing into things. He has ruined a number of kitchen items and even broken the protective gear for the doors and cabniets to keep him out.
From Facebook: "Collins at it again...330 am...tub of butter. Creamer. Bath soap. 12 eggs. Gallon milk. Haircuts for the cats. I just don't know what to do!!"
Marcy wakes up to destruction and puts him promptly back to bed. She doesn't know how to stop the behavior or what is causing it. Can anyone shed some light on this? Or give any advice for me to show/give her??
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by NewbieMom2010 on -
Wow, that sounds rough! I'm not sure if it's feasible or not, but maybe she could try putting up gates in various places to keep her little one confined to certain areas at night? She should talk to her pediatrican too. Maybe he has some kind of sleep disorder? There are all kinds of strange things out there. Good luck to her!
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Permalink Reply by Jen, Mom365 Host on -
I think he's just being curious. It sounds like such a typical thing for an unattended 2-3-year-old to do.
If I were in her position I'd probably get one of those alarms that lets you know when a door has been opened, then I'd get up with him to escort him to the bathroom and then back to bed. That way he'll know he doesn't have free reign of the house and won't get into mischief.
Just reading your post reminds me of this hysterical website about similar things. I won't use the real word that's in the website's name, but will allude to it: "Stuff" My Kids Ruined
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Permalink Reply by Shannon, Star Mom on
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A friend of mine w/ kids had to put locks on alll the cabinets and the fridge... not the light duty ones, the heavy duty metal ones that you use for like outdoor cabinets/sheds! It sounds like she really needs to just toddler-proof the home is all. Keep all doors closed at night (I'm guessing he snuck into the bathroom in order to get the bath soap, so def. keep bathroom door closed and tell him to come wake her if he needs to use the bathroom, or she could setup a potty chair just outside his room until he grows out of this phase). Keep all sharp objects LOCKED away... I guess he got a hold of some scissors if he gave the cats a hair cut- my brother did this at that age, only he cut off their whiskers and cut slits in their ears, it was horrible.
My daughter never did stuff like this, but I think it might be because we kept a baby gate up at her bedroom door at night so she could not get out... and for those 'climbers/jumpers' you could double gate one on top of the other. My brother- he got into EVERYTHING, I can't even begin to tell you how many things he got into or how many times we had to rush him to the hospital b/c of his need to get into everything/anything (ate rat poison, almost drowned, numerous stitches, animals in the microwave/fridge just to name a few....), but he turned into a very smart, sweet, responsible, young man now at 18... so don't worry, the behavior at this age is probably just wanting to explore and test boundaries, but he should one day grow out of it w/ proper child-proofing and disclipine as needed.
I have 20 month old twin boys, so I'm sure I will have many of my own stories to tell similar to this!
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Permalink Reply by heather rice on -
I have friends who put a baby gate up at the childs bedroom door. Then all he can destroy is his room (which should be baby proof). And/Or close his door at night. Chances are he can't reach the door knob. Or, if he can, put the lock on the outside and lock him in. This could be a serious hazard...if your friend cant do these, then some serious baby proofing around the house needs to be done. He could really get hurt...scary!
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Permalink Reply by Julie Weltch on -
My son is 2 and he still sleeps in his crib, so we don't have this problem... He will be switching soon though :/ I would suggest gates, alarms on doors, they also have magentic child locks for cabinets and drawers that he will NOT be able to open without the special key. What really scared be about this is that he had access to scissors and cut the cats hair? He could have cut/stabbed one of the cats... or WORSE, himself. We have gates completely blocking the kids from even going into the kitchen, it's just too dangerous in there for them when they are this age and don't listen to what you tell them. He could get seriously burned or start a fire.
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Permalink Reply by Jen Scanlon on
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Wow, that's no fun! We didn't have this problem, but we were worried when we moved from a ranch to a two story that our toddler would get up at night and fall down the stairs, so we go a stick on door alarm at WalMart for his bedroom door. it chimes a 'bing bong' that is pretty loud when the door opens (you can also set it to a screeching alarm, but we didn't want to scare him, just know if he was up and out of his room). If they did that, at least they would know if he was up and could get him back to bed without him destroying anything. a similar alarm is available here: http://www.amazon.com/GE-45115-Wireless-Battery-Operated-Magnetic/d...
Otherwise, I guess they could get him a potty chair to keep in his room and make it clear that he needs to stay in his own room at night and use that.
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Permalink Reply by Lisa on -
Sounds like what im going through now. I have a 2 yr old and she'll destroy from the front of the house to the back. Im more tired and sleepy now because I have a baby on the and im at 36 wks. So I actually just moved my daughter in the room with me. She's fully potty trained and sleeps in undies so I have her potty in the room. I also keep snacks and something to drink so I won't have to get up for nothing. I keep a random bucket of toys and dolls for her to play with if she wakes. Most importanly I always go to sleep with the TV on cartoons which actually seems to catch her eye so she actually stays in the bed and watch TV drink something and eventually falls back to sleep. She's close to my ears and eyes so I wont get no early morning surprises. And just being a mother I never fully sleep anyways. Hope this helps and good luck.
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Permalink Reply by EastTexasMommy on -
I had an electrician put tamper proof plugs in the entire house. I put knob protectors on, that my toddler just pulls off. We wrapped them with electrical tape. Put multiple cabinet protectors up. Finally got to the point we had to put a door know that locks on backwards. There is NOTHING in her room to play with, climb on, or to stimulate her at all. No night lights! I have a video/audio monitor in her room. It is wireless. $100. At sams club. (uniden) I hear if she cries, knocks on the door, etc. It was hard the 1st week but now she doesn't even try to roam.
the #1 think that scared me was if my kid can open her door, what is really keeping her in the house at night?
Bathroms are super dangerous. If you don't want to put a knob that locks on the door, backwards. Think about security chains.
The door can be opened but only a few inches.
Kids have bad accidents everyday. Fatal accidents and you can't rewrite history. Spend the money. Worst can put his bed in your room next to yours.
My good friend lost her toddler. It will hurt forever. Take the extra steps before it's too late.
Go over board. They are only todlers once.
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So true... in fact a friend of mine went through a terrible experience just last week- her 4 year old got up at 9:30 at night at the babysitters house (same babysitter my children go to during the day) went down stairs and snuck out. After having several police officers on foot looking for him, he was later found about a mile up the road hiding in a tree next to a pond.. Anything could have happened- drowned in the pond, hit by a car, kidnapped. Apparently he has tried to escape (and successful) from home many times before (his mom later admitted, failed to tell the babysitter this important info).
I agree- do everything you possibly can, be pro-active and remember they are much smarter than we sometimes give them credit for. My kids are only 20 mos. and have already figured out how to open the front door (it's a lever handle), and unlock the glass door, open, and escape.
Anyway, that experience w/ my friend was a real eye opener for ALL of us... it definitely could have ended fatal. Since then the babysitter has installed ADT alarm system and a sliding lock that is located at the very top of the front door.
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Permalink Reply by lyn on
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Hi Samantha,
I understand how you feeling about your little one. I don't know what to say or what advise I can give you, the only thing I can do to you're little one is to pray for him and we pray all together that is very powerful. GOD will help me and guide him. Don't lost FAITH just be patient that is part of kid growing up...GOD BLESS YOU and your FAMILY....
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Permalink Reply by kaylieandmacy on -
I hope I don't catch flack for this suggestion but what we do is put a child proof cover over our daughter's door knob (from the inside) so she can't open it during the night. She sometimes sleep walks so there would be a danger of falling down stairs if she was able to walk out of her room at night. We have a gate at the top of the stairs but we can't close it at night because the cat will meow loudly if she is stuck on either side. I like the idea of my daughter being confined to her room during sleep time. I would never be able to sleep if I thought she might be just walking around, getting into trouble (she's autistic and doesn't understand a lot of things just yet). My friend recently talked on Facebook about a bed she got for her son (I think she said insurance paid for the whole thing...they're $12,000!) Here's a link to that: http://www.kayserbettenus.com/hannah.html. Her son is severely autistic and would never sleep at night. He loves being in his new bed and when he realized that he couldn't get out, he would just settle himself and go to sleep. Best of luck!
***Oops, I just noticed that you said he is potty-trained so that is why he is getting up. My daughter isn't potty-trained yet so her having to go into the bathroom at night isn't an issue for us, yet. Maybe they could get one of those cute, little potty chairs for him to use in his room at night?***
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Permalink Reply by dentalgirl on -
Oh my! She needs to put a gate up in front of the door. Or one of those door knob anti child proof protectors so he can't turn the door knob. A 2-3 year old should under no circumstances be wandering around at night without supervision!! He could seriously hurt himself, goodness!!!
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