My 3yr old tipped a litre bottle of bath bubbles down the drain.... AGAIN!

Hello,

I have 2 boys. 3 and 13 months. This morning.. for the millionth time. I found my 3yr old "playing" with bath bubbles, or at least emptying it all down the drain. This wasn't the first time I found him doing something like this. I have tried all kinds of ways to explain and punish him. But he keeps doing it. To add to my stress today. After I calmed down and we had our day underway. I found him eating his brothers formula straight out to the can AGAIN! This is also not a new "trick". And I have tried it all there too. Even giving him some formula milk like his brother, in case it was a sibling thing. NOTHING seems to be working. And these issues with him are pushing me to my breaking point. What do I do with this??? Besides locking EVERYTHING out of his reach... I have no solutions anymore to try. If you have ANY advice.. I would be very grateful.

THANKS.
From a mumma who is trying to smile with her blood boiling and drinking her coffee like its magic stuff to calm her!

I'll ask my mum, becuase I used to do it all the time.
shampoo, conditioner, bubble bath - anything with a lid was a challenge and it all got poured down the bath.
And it wasnt just at home. I did it at other peoples houses as well.
I think I liked watching it all go down the drain, so the only think I could possibly suggest is one of those water, or sand and water play tables? Possiblt not the best thing with winter coming though.

Oh you are SOOO lucky that it went down the drain! A few weeks ago my 2 angels tipped the one litre bottle of bubble bath all over my carpet! They then enjoyed running through it stamping their feet and making splashing noises. I made them sit there and clean it up with a towel (that lasted a whole 5 seconds) and then I had a laugh about it.
It could be worse. It could be like the time my 2 drew all over the carpet, walls doors of a cabinet and front door in my rental property with black permanent marker!

Maybe one day someone will invent a cabinet that children cannot get into. Then I can store everything I own in one of them. LOL

*hugs* I feel your pain.
Kids will be kids I say. At the time it is super frustrating and I go off my nut, but I'm laughing within minutes because I'm sure I did something similar when I was their age.

Aww but it's so fun mum! :)

My advice really is just keep it out of reach. It will pass. We had issues with tissue boxes being emptied all over the bedroom. DH used to fly into a rage over it, which obviously did nothing :) I kept trying to tell myself how fascinating it must be that these tissues just keep on coming! You pull one out.. there's another! Pull another one out.. there's another! weeeee!! LOL. Don't worry... my blood would boil too ;) but truly.. it was just up to us to keep them out of reach until the fascination seemed to have gone.

Perhaps go without bubble bath for a while, explaining that you can't get any more for a while, and there's none left because it was all tipped out. Just repeat that at each bath for a while. Then when you do get a new bottle, explain that it's being kept out of reach, because we don't want to have to go without bubbles in our bath again, do we?

*shrug* that's all I have to offer I'm afraid. The novelty of these things does wear off tho. If it's just not getting through, then keep it out of reach for a while.

ETA: just another thought... maybe giving him an empty bottle to play with and squirt with at the sink as some water play might get it out of his system? My DD will stand for hours at the sink 'washing up'.

Buy one of those squirt water bottles $2 that you use for ironing...know what i mean? Dd has fun for ages outside with one of those!!!

i dont really have any advice except no one warned me 3yr olds were worse than 2 year olds hope u find a solution? but i would try the no bubble in the bath for a bit see if that works..my DS 3 kept touching the xmas tree and turning the lights on VERY DANGEROUS!! so i told him if he did it again i would pack the tree up and no santa!! he did it again to test me soo the tree got packed up for bout a week i rekon and he didnt touch it when it came back out!! good luck

OH ladies.. you all have made me smile! THANK HEAVENS my 2 aren't the only 2 who do these soort of things. Tissues is ALSO an issue here too!

I will go and buy or save bottles for them both to play with. The ideas all sound great. SO will give it all a go.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
You all have no idea how much your advice was needed and how much your kind words helped me today.

MUCH love,
Tascha ... now smilling once again!

Ps.. will never look at disgarded tissues the same way again... it sure would look like magic through their eyes!

Yep, you're lucky it went down the drain and not squidged through the carpet in your rental home (ie with an inspection due the next day) and with your entire spice rack contents mixed in for visual effect.... oooooh tumeric is so pretttty!

And you're lucky it wasn't your $80 deleted line foundation by Clinique that you were desperately trying to make 'last' because it was the perfect match for you skin tone.

yes, both above scenarios happened to me.

Answer: the passing of time is the only solution. They grow out of it. But I do sympathsise.

side thought; maybe it was for the best... most bath bubbles are full of nasty chemicals (check out the Moo Goo website and your little one is probably healthier for it :) Not sure if that helps at all.

Think you need to put locks of some sort on the cupboard.

My 3 year old will seek out the shampoo/conditioner/body wash too, and yep, it all goes either in the bath with her or down the drain.
Put them away, and close the bathroom door, childlocks on the cupboards, or a hanging basket thing from the shower head so they can't get to them.

Also, have you tried consequences with the 3 year old - ie if he pours it out then he has no bubble bath for the next 2 weeks? Took a few times to figure it out, but once my 3 yo realised that if she emptied the bottle of bubbles there would be no more bubbles in the bath for x amount of time, she stuck to the small amount I give her in a squeeze bottle to play with in the bath.

HTH :)

My second oldest is bad for this. If something has been tipped out or squirted everywhere I can guarantee who did it!

My kids love pouring, detergents and paint. I don't even bother trying to explain. Everything is up high, bubbles, shampoos, detergents. If they are going to get into it I put it where they can't. Saves me a lot of angst. :)