Making messes

Surely my kids are not the only ones that keep making messes at this age? Yesterday they stole a loaf of bread, today they dumped boxes of pasta on the floor. A friend is making me feel like the worst mom because they do that, but no amount of time outs is making any difference. They'll be 3.5 in 2 months...

Please someone make me feel normal lol

 

Mine will be 3 1/2 next week and still dig in the garbage. Their pre school sent home all the extra photos of my one DS that they used for projects (it's the same photo). I don't need or want them so I tossed them. The next day I see him playing with one of the pictures. It does not matter how deep I bury things, they will find them.

I have a Keurig and they are forever taking the used pods out of the garbage and I have a floor full of coffee grounds.

Fortunatly, they do respond to time outs. But usually a few days or weeks later, they are up to it again.

 

Ya know, I never had to deal with that kind of mess. I know I am extremely lucky.

Well, Alice did chew the marshmallows through the plastic bag making them all sticky, but I think that was the worst thing so far.

 

Mine got into a very large container of rolled oats and it was everywhere!!

Mine are into the pantry all the time and getting into the crackers or pulling out all the bottles of water.

Mine could get into much worse trouble but they prefer to play in the sink and not look around at the counters.

I have one that time outs do nothing for, but having him clean up the mess has really helped.

 

They have to clean up but it doen't seem to help...

 

That's mine, messy and very curious! It's hard because just yesterday Joshua had gotten to 5 different things before I got the first cleaned up. Part of it is just curiosity and being mischievious and part of it is actual disobediance. I only try to only punish for the disobediance part. Their minds just go a mile a minute...

 

I read an article recently that said for the most part kids are just really curious at this age - ie. what will happen if I stick my fingers in the pasta box, and what happens if I dump it on the floor, or in the sink etc, etc, etc! I try to remember that they aren't doing it to make a mess, but out of learning and curiosity : )
So, now whenever mine get into something (DD keeps going at the sunscreen and diaper cream and painting it in the sink and down the drain), and these things happen nearly daily (and I watch mine so closely!) I try and explain why we dont do that, have them help clean it up (which they often LOVE to do) and move on. I did decide the other day that since DD was so interested in little bottles of lotion etc, that I gave her some old hotel bottles of stuff and let her go crazy in the sink with them. Then the next day I gave them a container (which was almost empty) of diaper cream, gave them paper and egg cartons and let them smear it all that stuff. I was hoping this would help with her curiousity, we shall see!

 

I think when my two get into things it's because they are bored. Thats when we head outside to play! They run off energy and my house stays relatively clean!! I have a hard time entertaining them when they are inside. The times I have, its ended in disaster or they were completely uninterested. I also send them to the basement and make them play there. Daddy is in charge of keeping the basement cleaned up since I don't play with the boys down there. They always have big brother to play with so they are always occupied by him!!

 

Mine can't get into food in the kitchen because the pantry door handle is too high for them to reach and the fridge door is too heavy for them to open. But I woke up this morning to their room floor covered in blankets and sheets that they pulled out of their closet because they were having a picnic. I know that isn't the same as what you are going thru, but I just think that having little kids=messy house and I try not to get too worked up about it. I'm sure if I woke up to my kitchen floor covered in pasta or flour I would feel a little different though. Any way to move that stuff so they can't get to it? They'd probably just climb though right? :hug:

 

This is what I was going to say. It sounds like curiosity to me rather than bad behaviour & giving them opportunities to be curious that can also be under your control would help a lot.

For the pasta specifically, you could make a pasta "table" - we have a shallow rubbermaid that I've filled with rice (but you could put small pasta noodles in instead) and a bunch of measuring cups, spoons, a funnel, a strainer, etc. I put that out on the kitchen floor & let them go to town. We have to remind them sometimes to keep the rice in the bucket, but otherwise it's not too messy - and it's a ton of tactile fun for them.

 

I was down stairs in the basement folding towels one morning i was gone for all of 10 minutes LOL!! and my two were making my breakfast. Let's just say it was not edible and there was butter ALL over my kitchen. My two get into EVERYTHING my single boys were never this bad. I don't know if it is because they are girls or if it is because there are two of them LOL!!!! Oh my goodness nothing is safe in this house!!! I have not found anything that makes it better either and I have given in and just make dough for them and keep noodles in a big Tupperware container that they can " cook" with when we cook.

 

Yes, 3.5 yo twins, I just don't think she realizes that she's very lucky that her kids have NEVER got into anything... I'm not so secretly hoping that her next one is like mine.