Throwing

So, my boys are really into throwing.

I'm sitting at my desk right now trying to work (I work from home) and I can hear the babysitter trying to reason with the boys (23 months old) about not throwing.

My policy is just to redirect under most circumstances. Sometimes, if need be, I take the items away. If they throw in a mean way I may do a timeout, but they seldom throw to hit anyone.

I kind of feel like, to a large degree, this obsession will fade. So I got them some new balls to throw and just redirect them to those.
But I can tell their behavior is wearing the babysitter down. Am I not expecting enough from them?

What are your thoughts and experiences with throwing?

 

Mine like it, too.

First, I didn't so much mind them throwing something down, like a rock or woodchips, when their aim sucked and they wanted to see it hit earth.

Now that they can hit people, my solution was teach them to say "Catch, mommy" then wait until I said "Ok" then throw. They actually like the game. This only applies with a ball and some of them are too hard, so I'll make them go get a specific ball. This usually is fine with them, too.

I would remind them that we don't throw things at people or hit people with toys, though. I did this with S the other day, I could tell he wanted to throw (and now knows to say "catch") but he threw a hard ball which hit me in the nose. I 'let' him do it (I didn't redirect him, I let him know not to and waited to see if he'd reign in his own desire to bean me in the face) then put him in the PNP; letting him know that hurt mommy and we don't hit people with balls. After a minute, I got him out, let him know again what he did and suggested we play catch, instead.

 

I think it sounds like your approach is just right. Maybe your sitter has a lower threshold for the behavior than you do so is jumping in more frequently? Or maybe she just needs to stick with a simpler approach - rather than spending a ton of time trying to reason with them, she should do as you do, simply redirect or take away the offending toy.

 

My boys are really into throwing things....I didn't really think much of it until it became fun to throw things at me, DH, the dogs, etc. I gave them their first time out a few weeks ago when they each threw a Tonka truck at my head. (one did it first and got a time out, and the other did it just a few minutes later). It took 2-3 time outs each, and they have gotten much better about not throwing.

My policy now is to do a time out IF they intentionally throw it at a person (or a dog). Otherwise, I redirect (usually by handing them a ball and telling them if they want to throw something, they can throw the ball). I am also trying to teach them to throw to my hands, and not my head, which is a work in progress. They know where "hands" are now, it's just reminding them. Some days it's tiring for sure, but that's toddlers!

 

Ditto this. I wouldn't reason with a 23 month old past "Item is not for throwing. You can throw your ball." and then hand them or point them to the ball.
Only if they were repeatedly refusing to throw the ball or deliberately aiming to hit someone would I take the toy away and/or put them in time out.

 

This is exactly what we did! :good: My guys (especially Nate) got to a point that he was throwing *everything* he got his hands on. He did it for fun, he did it in anger, he did it almost reflexively. :wacko: I was super consistent about telling them that we don't throw toys, if you want to throw, here's a ball. If they persisted, the toy went into time out. I hate to say it, but that throwing phase lasted at LOOOOONG time. Even now, at almost 3, they will still throw toys, but I'm a lot quicker to take them away and not give them chances like I used to.

 

We did the same thing - lots of redirection and no discussions about this. The house rule is you may throw (soft) balls and no other toys. I prefer time outs for the toy to time outs for the child at that age.

What also helped us were balloons - they love playing with them and they cannot hurt themselves or others or destroy stuff even if they hit or throw them as hard as they can.

 

I redirect to throwing soft balls, but I think I typically end up distracting them with a more appropriate play activity. the ball thing doesn't work all that great.

 

I try to repeat you can 'roll' this in the house and throw it outside. What you try to avoid is saying "No throwing" They do NOT hear the 'no' in the front. Tell them what you want them to do with the item.