Im fed up, he isnt even 3 yet, and he is super sneaky, and trouble....

I dont know if im asking for advice or just having a vent, i think ive had all the advice i can take right now, but who knows maybe someone might have a fresh idea :(

My adorable little 3 in march darling son, gets into everything, and i mean everything, i take my eyes off him for a second and he has done something wrong, he gets told off, and he looks at me so sad with these big blue eyes, and then goes and does something else, we have even smacked him, and to no avail, nothing works!

Mum suggested keeping him by my side at all times, taking him to the loo, even when i get off the lounge to get a drink he must come with, my husband has suggested a straight jacket!

So anyone on face book would have read as recently as a few minutes ago the latest of my sons doings..

Yesterday, he emptied a brand new full 750ml shamppo down the drain, while i was prepareing dinner, today he covered the back yard in my husbands brand new $30 pouch of tobacco and filters and papers, and just now not more than a few minutes ago, my oldest came home from a friends house, he was inside with me, my other #4 was in the shower i went to the balcony said good bye to her friends mother, went inside and the brand new replacement 750ml shampoo and the brand new conditioner bought today was gurggling down the drain, and he was wet!

He had gotten his step stool, used for washing his hands, put into the shower and reached up!

We have a lock on our fridge, which i forgot to lock yesterday, and he emptied out an entire salad dressing, mayo, custard and mixed it in water in cups, i had only left him for a few minutes.
I went to the loo, and he tipped a bottle of spray and wipe on the floor, which he used a kitchen chair to get.

We got a security gate for the hallway, so when/if he woke before anyone else, he couldnt go into the lounge kitchen dinning area and destroy it, and so far it works, unless #4 lets him out, then the two together are trouble.

The list continues on what he gets up too, and im fed up, he is super quick and sneaky, he opens a door and shuts it behind him, so u dont think he is in there, he loves to enter #1s bedroom and trash it, then she starts yelling and carrying on!

Reading this all back to myself, i feel broken, i cant take my eyes of him for a second, none of my others were really this bad, he is the youngest atm, and im tired, being pregnant and in the heat, i cant keep getting up and chasing him all the time.

Gosh Hun sounds exhausting. I've only got a little bub so don't have any advice but just wanted to say hang in there you're doing a great job! Hopefully someone will be able to offer you some helpful advice soon :)

Sounds like he's strong too opening all those bottles..... Maybe tape all bottle shut.... Put everything like tobacco etc up super high.... And :hug: my DS is 2 and 2 months and follows me everywhere.... Maybe he needs to be your shadow until he can behave ......

Man im exausted just reading it! how frustrating.

I keep my shampoos etc away from the kids at a tall height, do you have a locked kitchen cupboard where you keep the diswashin stuff or ajax etc? I would put it in there and get it out only when using it. My first thought is he loves playin with water or liquid, have you got an outdoor area and give him a bowl of water and pourer so he can play with them? maybe this will lessen his need to get into the shampoo etc. I would put a security gate on the bathroom door area. Does time out work?

My twins are a similar age, and their favourite game a few months ago was to wait until my back was turned and destroy their brothers' carefully built lego ships. It was very frustrating, I had to watch them every second. In the end I bought a lock and put it on the outside of the older boys' bedroom door, so I can lock them out. Is there a room you could put anything you don't want him touching it and lock him out until he gets over this? I promise this phase will end but I know how tiring it is :hug:

My DS (now 5) used to love tipping liquid soap, shampoo, conditioner, expensive face cleansers... down the drain. I think he liked the bubbles! He was about your DS's age at the time and it frustrated me no end. The only way we got the message through to him that he was tipping money down the drain was for me to say to him "now daddy needs to go back to work to earn some more money so that we can buy some more...(fill in the gap). That means we won't be able to go to the (park, beach whatever) today." And my DH would actually get dressed in his work clothes and leave the house (to visit a mate or something). DS was devastated that dad had to 'go to work' instead of staying home to play. We did this two or three times and DS started to think about the things he was wasting and stopped pouring things down the drain!

Good luck, I remember the utter frustration well!!

Gosh I feel for you... I'm in the same boat with our little man who is three in April... fingers crossed that they both grow out of this phase quickly

hi Anila

:o :o :o :o
oh wow - something to look forward to when my DS is a bit older!
:o :o :o :o


no real advice - just that maybe a different approach may help. for example, kids with certain issues often need to be challenged/stimulated in different ways in order to circumvent the symptoms of the real problem.

for him, he doesn't know what $$$ are (unfortunately!), so he doesn't understand what he is doing is wasteful, messy and a pain - to him it's just fun. Imagine if you stimulated this and used it for something productive - like messy artwork once a day. Kids love getting mucky, maybe it's something to be encouraged in a "controlled" environment?

maybe you could try to see the world with his eyes and ask yourself what he is attracted to? maybe he's missing something? or like the others say, maybe it's a phase. my brother used to do really naughty things- i remember he tied a tight string around the cat once (!) and once he took a ball of yarn and tied it all over the backyard like a big spider web (kinda cool)

i totally sympathise with you, feeling overwhelmed and being pregnant. how old are the older kids? could you get them to help out with the situation?

good luck thinking outside of the box!

I know its a phase and he will hopefully grow out of it but its frustrating, the chemicals are kept in a high cupboard above the stove, he moves the kitchen chair to the stove and climbs up, he climbs the pantry, we have tried the safetly lock on the pantry, the one where its sticky stuff taped on, but after a while of him pulling it, the lock doesnt work, we are in a rental so cant drill locks in, when things are locked up there isnt an issue with that stuff, but he gets into everything the second the lock isnt on .

I cant put a safety gate on the bathroom, because he is toliet training, and goes to loo when ever he feels the need etc

we have tried explaining to him, giving him time out putting him in his room, etc etc, and nothing

I do agree he needs extra stimulation, but atm its hard for me to give that to him, my hubby works nights and sleeps days, and i clean when im not to tired, which atm is always!

Keeping him by my side isnt as easy as it sounds, both my mum and sister suggested it, and its hard i cant force him to come with me when i go to the loo iykwim, even mum says he is a handful when she has it at her place.

On friday he goes back to kindy, after having 6 weeks off over xmas, just like the big kids! So he will get some stimulation once a week then.

The first thing that came to mind reading this was making mud pies or helping you cook something. Giving him the opportunity to combine and mix a whole heap of different things together maybe?? :hug: though it sounds so tiring dahl. Hope it works itself out soon.

Big big big hugs. :hug:

I'm tired just thinking about it. I feel for you and hope he grows out of it soon. Fingers crossed going back to Kindy lessens his mischief.

more :hug:

xox

just offering a:hug: no help here, i have the same problems with my 3 & 5 year olds, only they know how all the child locks work, and litraly smashed the kiddie gate down i had.
:hug: i hope he settles down and starts behaving for you.

oh wow, i can't imagine trying to cope with this AND being pregnant, you must be exhausted.

the only thing i can think of is to have a number of baby gates (we had four of these, on four different doorways, in a rental property).

he sounds a very clever cookie, to be dragging stools, steps and kitchen chairs to help him climb up.

Placement of the things he likes to dip down the drain, in view of "could he reach this, if standing on a chair".
Put the items in the rooms, that babygates stop him entering.
You might not be able to leave hair products in the shower, if the current position is so easy for him to get to. you can get product racks that hang OVER shower doors (to hold the hair products). would that be high enough to stop him?
Otherwise the only thing i can think of is, keep the hair products in a travel toiletries bag (in a room with a child gate on the doorway) and take that bag in and out of the bathroom WITH you, when you have your shower. Inconvenient, but may be cheaper.

i'm prolly biased about the child safety gates cos i have/had such a short child, who never climbed them, got past them. I don't know what i would have done, without those gates, they were my sanity saver - and kept bilby safe.

I cant offer much in the way of advice, As i have a Mr 3 who sounds as though he could be your sons twin!! It is so so exhausting, and im not pregnant, so huge hugs for you.

We have an open dining/lounge/kitchen area, so no keeping him out of there! But i have had something rigged up so he cant get in to the kitchen, although his latest is to push a chair up to the side of it, climb up and jump over :( Whenever i leave the room all my chairs go up on the tables so he cant get them and at night, everything climbable goes up or out! I have a safety latch on my fridge and freezer and small slide bolt on my pantry, spare/junk room, my room, bathroom and laundry, i have safety gates to keep him away from the front and back door as he will let him self out, and a safety gate blocking the hall leading to my study as this door has a cat flap so the cats can get to the cat run and he will go through it and throw things out it!! Sort of sounds like fort nox but i was at a loss, and you know what?? It still hasn't stopped him!! And Mr 2 is starting too!!

Good luck, i know how frustrating it can be, hope he settles down soon, mine too! Oh and im sleeping in my loungeroom at the moment too so i can hear him as soon as he gets up!

Just wanted to say that I feel your pain. You son sounds a lot like my (just turned) 3yo. We have locks on all our cupboards and the fridge since he gets into these and also gets chairs over so that he can get into more mischief.
Is there a slight ledge at the top of the shower screen that you can put the shampoos etc on? I know that this is probably just one of the million things he gets into, so I will just tell you ... I do empathise.
Here is a story for you abou my boy that I hope will give you a chuckle. My sons favourite thing to do at the moment is poo outside - usually in their play area, one day he decided to piff the poo over the neighbours fence- it landed on some timber they were building with so it wasn't like they wouldn't notice - and it definately didn't look like a dog poo. So I had to march him over to explain to them how my son had thrown his own poo over their fence and apologise and offer to clean it up. I can laugh about it now.

Hugs to you, and I hope he settles down soon for you

Thankyou all to have replied, and massive hugs to thoose going through something similar :hug:
I havent replied today cause ive had a somewhat horrid day.

sorry to hear you've had a rotten day Anila

:hugs: