He's 15 months and a super-good kid. But, there are a couple areas in the house, a couple of things he does that are just not okay (like pulling the cord for the tv out of the wall). We tell him "no", smack his hand and take him away from the area to get him interested in something else. He laughs and starts walking back to the area while I'm still standing right there.
We've very rarely had to say no to him because he's such a good boy... does he just not understand? He seems to think it's a game, it's fun.
But it's obviously a safety hazard. I don't want to just put a piece of furniture or something in front of the area... that's not going to teach him no, that's just going to hide the problem. Then when we go to grandma's house or somewhere else he still won't realize that playing with cords is not okay.
Any suggestions?
2007-12-17 02:17:10 · 11 answers · asked by ChefMel 5 in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Toddler & Preschooler
did you say you actually hit your kid with a tube?
2007-12-17 06:47:52 · update #1
He does not understand NO yet. Usually a child needs to be closer to 24-28 months before they grasp the word NO as a bad thing. They will also test your patience to see how far they can go before crossing the line. Smacking them on the hand is not a good idea the child does not know why you are doing this to him and can create hitting is ok on their part. The interest in outlets and electric cords is natural and probably won't stop any time soon atleast for the next 10 months so be patient, offer a choice of two other things to do like read a book or play with blocks. My son is almost 24 months now and he is starting to understand no and time outs. We have had a long battle with him over the electric outlets and plug in cords he is just now understanding not to play with them. Remember you're the parent and just be patient he just needs a little more growing up to do and he'll be fine. In most cases the jolt from the electrical outlet is minor and won't do any physical harm.
2007-12-17 02:50:20 · answer #1 · answered by bagrok 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
From this brief description it sounds like you have a smart toddler on your hands. I'm sure he understands the word 'no', but there are two things happening here; 1. For some reason he now associates the entire sequence as a game. 2. It's become a quest... in his mind it must be something really, really good for you to keep him away.
Here are some things that I do with my kids in similar situations.
1. Look him in the eye and tell him "You could get hurt and I do not want you back there. It's not a game and Mommy (or Daddy or whatever your toddler calls you) is not playing a game or joking. (This rarely works, but I have been surprised a few times when it did work.)
2. Let him back in the area to get his curiosity satisfied. Obviously take precautions like flip the breaker that feeds that outlet and stand there to make sure he doesn't pull the TV over. But he will probably be back there for about 10 seconds and realize it's not all that exciting and go find something else.
3. Lastly when he heads for the area stand in front of him and say no, don't pick him up or engage him in anyway other than to keep blocking his way saying "no" each time until he realizes it's not worth the effort.
I should have prefaced this with, there is no one thing that works with kids. I've done something with my kids and got amazing results one time and then tried it again in another situation and had it backfire on me. The only things I think will work over the long haul are patience and love.
2007-12-17 03:37:55 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
NO in a firm voice, and do NOT give him something else to distract him, just move him away from the spot like the far side of the living room. keep the mean face for a couple minutes!!!
if he tries it again, say no again, firmly, and then put him in a "time out" in an isolated area like a playpen with NO TOYS and preferably in an isolated area away from watching tv. if you dont have a playpen or are out somewhere, it will have to be standing in a corner. you will have to constantly turn him to the wall, but after a while he'll get it. it's a tedious process.
2007-12-17 03:19:14 · answer #3 · answered by Sassy Gal 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sounds pretty typical.
One thing you may want to watch out for - are you planning to allow others to smack him when he does something wrong. If so, keep going with that.
If not, work on disciplining him the way you want others too. Sounds like you're thinking of these other scenarios, but for instance at a playdate, are you okay with some other parent smacking him if he goes for the cord?
Just keep going with the consistency - maybe not the smacking. Think about how long it takes them to learn to walk, talk, eat, etc, then one day they "get it".
2007-12-17 02:28:26 · answer #4 · answered by lillilou 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
my daughter has been walking for style of four months and whilst she all started walking grew to become into whilst i all started the no project. whilst i all started it and she or he grew to become into stepping into to a minimum of a few thing she's not meant to i could get all the way down to her point and say "Kayla, no." very firmly then walk her faraway from it. She could in many cases get distracted adn play with some thing else. If she rotated and have been given into it returned or grew to become into being undesirable i could do it returned. If she did it returned then i could placed her in her %. and play for an afternoon out for a million min (a million min for each 12 months). i could try this each and every time she have been given in to something she wasn't meant to. it is been 4 months and that i'm able to take a seat down on the sofa, see her entering into some thing and seem at her and say "no" and she or he in many cases seems at me and the two smiles at me or crys then comes over to me. i'm guessing that she knows the meaning of no now. My daughter is in simple terms over a 12 months now.
2016-10-02 00:05:08 · answer #5 · answered by vite 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's because the consequences you are giving him are not bad enough to make him want to think twice about disobeying. It's different for every kid.
What we do with our daughter is tell her no we don't do that, explain why we don't do that and let her make her choice. If she disobeys a second time, she gets a swat on the leg or hand with an eight inch length of aquarium tubing. It's enough to make a sting on the part without causing damage.
Personally, I think that your smack on his hand doesn't hurt a bit so he just thinks that your reaction to his disobedience is a riot, and thus he tries it again.
Kids will constantly try you, you just have to be consistent and use what works.
2007-12-17 02:25:14 · answer #6 · answered by not too creative 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The word no doesn't work with my son either. He knows that he needs to stop doing something when I say to him in a stern tone "We don't do that!". Even then, that sometimes doesn't work so I take him away from what he was doing and make him sit with me for a few moments. He'd rather be running around, so that usually works.
2007-12-17 03:03:16 · answer #7 · answered by PJ's Mom 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
well what I did with my son about that age, I told him to go ahead and do it that it was going to hurt. he nodded to me and pulled it out and got his finger in there (we had been telling him no for 2 months) and it gave him a shock and so he has never ever gone anywhere near the outlets again. It didnt do any damage it just gave him a little jolt. Sometimes they need to learn by actually doing it themselves.
2007-12-17 02:58:08 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I never liked to use the word no. Usually it would be something like..."Thats not a good idea" with a firm tone. Then consequences such as time out. (sitting on the step)
2007-12-17 02:25:34 · answer #9 · answered by carolynjlalena 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
You could visit my website, http://www.learning-graph.com , which has excellent resources for discipline in children.
2007-12-17 02:30:59 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋