does anyone elses kids do this

Cheryl - posted on 02/12/2013

i cant do that either due to lack of space, i actually did this in my old house and had the draws in my room for 2 years

Liz - posted on 02/11/2013

I'd remove the dresser and clothes from his room and keep them somewhere else until he can learn not to do it.

Cheryl - posted on 02/11/2013

sorry i have not been on for a while. iv tried talking to him about it i explained mummy does the washing and iorning so he looks nice, that hes making a mess that hes making more work for me, that big boys dont do thing like this and hes a big boy not a baby, iv even asked him to explain y hes doing it but nothing has worked.

i had noticed there was a pattern but even that has gone out of the window as hes done it a few times since they went back to nursery, and i have had to abondon hanging clothes in his wardrobe as he will not leave them alone so everything is screwed up in the bottom.

we have pretty strict routines in this house we have to, and any change in that routine has advanced warning where possible.

we have also moved him into the back bedroom this has helped with a few of the things he was doing but not all of them

Cecilia - posted on 01/09/2013

have you tried talking to him? have a big kid talk about what is upsetting him and maybe try to help him find a way of dealing with it. If he's doing other things then adjusting a dresser isn't going to fix much. Maybe go get one of those inflatable punching bags... those are fun and good for stress.

Try to find ways to help him feel more balanced in life. That is always important for this age. Even if its same dinner time, same bathtime, same bedtime, you know some things you can control.

I'm even wondering if it's worth getting the clothes up. If it makes him feel better to have them out... why not just let it be for a day or two.

Cheryl - posted on 01/09/2013

cecilia i cant even turn them around i did this the 1st time which was in our old house and he ripped the back of the draws and snapped it so he could still get to them. your right it is his reaction to stress he did it from xmas eve to new years day then he slept out and stopped untill yesterday when he went back to school we walked in his room to find all the clothes out again.

he cant cope well with stress or change and there has been a lot of change in the family over the last 3 months and i cant see it going back to normal any time soon. tbh i wish this was the only thing he does but its not by a long shot

Cecilia - posted on 01/08/2013

I would agree that making him clean up the mess would be a huge help with this. It took him all day... next time it will take him all day too. He'll get the picture that if he chooses to pull it out that he will have a boring day.

I didn't read all the suggestions but i was thinking about turning it around to face the wall if you can. My daughter's dresser is way too large for this to be an option but i don't know how large it is.

I think many of us go through this though. My son when he was 5 would take apart my toaster. no, i'm not kidding. I went through toasters faster than people go through bread. When i finally found a place for the toaster that he couldn't get to he moved on to taking apart other things.,, more expensive things. Baby gates don't work on a kid that age either. He was at an age where he could understand me well if i talked so that is what i did. I told him why i didn't want him doing it, explained he could get hurt, told him exactly what consequences would occur next time.

You said it started when you moved. Maybe it's his reaction to stress. Things are different now and so one thing that is familiar are his clothes. So he's going through them to check on them or something.. Maybe offer him some middle ground and leave him a basket of clothes that he is welcome to go through and play with.

Cheryl - posted on 01/01/2013

i cant move the dresser as i dont have space anywhere else, baby gates dont work in my house one climbs over and the oldest can undo them that includes taking it off the door lol. i cant put locks on coz we either get stairs or i cant get the bloody things open and he can lol

we have locks on the outside of the living room, bathroom, toilet n my bedroom because if he can get in any room without supervision he will trash it.

i dont think hes doing it because its fun i think its stress release coz hes not at nursery so roll on next week

Denikka - posted on 12/31/2012

Dumping things out of drawers is fun :P I used to do it as a kid too :P Although I never broke drawers doing it (my kids have. . .sigh)
If it's his dresser drawers, is there any way to either move the dresser out of his room or latch all the drawers together at the top and bottom (no stairs) or at the sides of the dresser?
If it's in a different room, I would suggest more security measures. We've put 2 gates stacked on top of each other, or placed back to back to the kiddo can't get to the locking mechanism.

We only have a small plastic set of 3 drawers, but my youngest loves to pull out all the dishes out of the kitchen drawers and uses them to climb on if I turn my back.
I definitely feel your pain on that one. It can be so hard to break them of bad habits (especially ones that are apparently SOOO fun), when they've got something in their little brains :P

Cheryl - posted on 12/31/2012

hes doing it in the middle of the night so its not a case of being able to see him do it, he used to do it in the morning then at bedtime now its sometime between 4 and 6 am. im glad you have said your kids do it because up to now everyone has said nope yours are the only ones i have ever heard of doing this

Denikka - posted on 12/31/2012

My kids both do this (almost 4 and 2yrs). I think it's pretty normal. It's fun to pull stuff apart and empty drawers.
I think you need more immediate consequences though. Kids that young don't understand things like tomorrow they won't get to do something. It's like training/disciplining a dog. The consequence needs to be immediate. When you've seen him do it, tell him what he's done and put him straight in time out for a few minutes. When time out is over, it's over. He's not going to understand dragged out consequences. Each day should start new.

Cheryl - posted on 12/31/2012

michellen yes there are consequences he has been on his new bike once since christmas because of this, he is made to stay upstairs till it is away, he will not be going to visit family or sleeping at his nannans tomorrow if what he did today is not put away, yet none of this stops him

this is the 3rd time he has done it since we moved house 6 months ago and each time can last a week to a month, we have even had to have locks put on the bedroom windows as he posted all his and his broithers clothes out of the windows the other week

Cheryl - posted on 12/31/2012

ana i cant put locking devices on them because of the shape they would open like steps if i did, i do make him put it back the other day he was not allowed to leave his room apart from for meals till it was put away, he was in his bedroom all day

Michelle - posted on 12/31/2012

What do you do when he does it? Are there consequences that are followed through with?

A toddler will keep doing things if they get away with it. If you just tell him "No" without any other discipline then he will keep doing it for your attention. He's old enough to understand not to do it so you need to change the habit he now has.

Ana - posted on 12/31/2012

Yes. He's ok. Need child locking devices on the drawers, that he can stand on at least, or everytime he takes something out, make him put it all back in. Then it gets boring to take it all out again.