Dumping | Imamother

ectomorph

Wed, May 08 2019, 6:36 pm

dankbar wrote:

Oy! I remember when my 2 boys were toddlers & they were a team in trouble! A normal activity was squirting ketchup all over the place! Making trails of baby powder all over the house! Smearing the linens with balmex! Scribbling up the walls with crayons! Squirting toothpaste all over! One would scoop out the water from toilet bowl with a jug or washing cup & dump on brothers head! Smear icing from cake into the brothers hair!
Besides for unpacking cabinets & spilling stuff & destroying stuff! They made a boat out of a whole watermelon & balled out spaces for their mentchies on erev Tisha bav! First they threw it to floor to crack it! My entire house was sticking from watermelon when I woke up Erev Trisha bav! I couldn't even wash the floors regularly then.

lol that sounds like something my kids would do!! I once stupidly left a jar of mustard and ketchup on dining room table... You can imagine the mess that greeted me when I next entered the room...

nchr

Wed, May 08 2019, 6:42 pm

Since you mentioned daily baths, I would do dumping in the bath. There are great, cleanable bath toys for dumping water that can be used in the bath. I would also not react to the dumping by yelling or getting excited because to a toddler that is attention. I'd tell them that emptying the sugar is not acceptable and put it back. Maybe I would do a time out or the corner, but not a lot of attention or explaining other than "we do not do this." Afterwards I'd redirect - "we can dump some water in the bath" or some balls in the playroom now. My toddlers had been emptying loads of potatoes during Pesach. It stopped after about a week, so I'd definitely say this is probably a phase. Do you have a playroom in your home? That helps keep kids out of the kitchen, although toddlers need supervision.

ectomorph

Wed, May 08 2019, 6:54 pm

nchr wrote:

We spend 30 min to an hour in the bath and yes they have dumping toys... This is after spending several hours outside digging and dumping.

It has been several weeks. I know it's a phase but I also need to figure out how to manage it.

The living room is the playroom and yes they dump all the toys regularly. That part doesn't bother me.

Seashell

Wed, May 08 2019, 6:59 pm

ectomorph wrote:

I am planning to set up a large sandbox outside. Last year, the issue was that they run in and out of the house and each time track sand in the house, and I Found it impossible to stay ahead of the mess.

Try filling the sandbox with rice, see if they’ll go for it. Much cleaner.

Kiwi13

Wed, May 08 2019, 7:05 pm

My kids are 3, 1 and 1. I have very low expectations and only attempt to clean up after the kids’ bedtime. (Except for cleaning and sweeping after meals) Whenever we are able to play outside, we do. I teach cleanup skills and whatever else at age appropriate levels, but I don’t inwardly expect it. I limit where they can play and I put child locks on all my cabinets and doors. I get creative about blocking off restricted areas when they learn to beat the system. And I laugh. A lot. And sometimes also cry. I’m not at the stage yet where I can say from experience that it gets easier, but I have faith that it will. The little years are messy but very good for taking pictures!

dankbar

Wed, May 08 2019, 7:12 pm

I had hook locks high up on every door, leading into every room of house, thats besides for the bathroom doors. Evety minute that I didnt look was another mess in the making. They would dump out stuff from all over. Drawers, closets, cabinets. They were experts in turng my house topsy turvy within minutes.

FranticFrummie

Thu, May 09 2019, 9:04 am

Hook locks high up were useless for my brother. We even put bells on the doors as well. He learned that if he pulled a dining room chair really slow over to the door, and opened the door really slow, he could slip out unnoticed. He was barely 2 years old, and woke up at all hours of the morning. We'd often find him naked, playing on the swing in the front yard. LOL

B'H, no one called child services on us.

Ectomorph, locks are a hassle, it's true. On the other hand, how much cleaning and loss of money for food are you dealing with every day? It seems a pretty small price to pay.

You should do combination locks, because if they ever find the keys, G-d help you! (Then they'll lose the keys, and you'll be even more frustrated.)

amother

Ginger

Thu, May 09 2019, 9:12 am

FranticFrummie wrote:

I'm pretty sure that at least half the fun, is dumping things that are forbidden. If it is something approved, it will lose it's appeal pretty quickly.

ITA. Half the fun is doing something they're not supposed to, and mommy's reaction to it. So to get around this, I rearranged my cabinets and organized one cabinet with the stuff that I was ok with having them get into. I put an easy to open lock on it, so it has a semblance of being forbidden, and much tougher locks on the other. And then I pretended to be aghast when the stuff was spilled all over the floor.

It worked. Though I did have to change up the items occasionally for them not to try elsewhere.

urban gypsy

Thu, May 09 2019, 10:17 am

Ectomorph, I did have 3 under 3 at one time and the only thing that helped was aggressive baby proofing of cabinets and letting them play with only 1 or 2 "dumping" toy bins at a time... though I probably spent 50% of my time in those days organizing tiny toy pieces back into their bins. However, your kids sound totally amazing next level acrobatic dumpers! I don't really have any good advice to give except to say that you probably have the next champion parkour expert or Spiderman on your hands. LOL

ShishKabob

Thu, May 09 2019, 1:03 pm

I think cheap beans are good for dumping pleasure also. They're bigger than rice so that it doesn't get to all the places that rice will get.
Good luck op, you sound like a very terrific and dedicated mother. The mess is part of it, but it'll pass till the next one grows into toddlerhood. Smile

Don't fret, spotless houses are meant for child free homes or chalilah with people that have unhealthy kids that don't move. Consider yourself blessed!

ectomorph

Thu, May 09 2019, 4:38 pm

ShishKabob wrote:

Don't fret, spotless houses are meant for child free homes or chalilah with people that have unhealthy kids that don't move. Consider yourself blessed!

Thank you! I don't use food as activity since my cleaning help saw a food including arts and crafts and told me that in her country they would eat it.

ectomorph

Thu, May 09 2019, 4:39 pm

urban gypsy wrote:

I'm very impressed you tried to organize. I just dump everything back in the bins.

ectomorph

Thu, May 09 2019, 4:39 pm

amother [ Ginger ] wrote:

Thats a cute idea!!!

ectomorph

Thu, May 09 2019, 4:40 pm

FranticFrummie wrote:

! Lol I'm actually considering this idea at least for flour, sugar, rice...

urban gypsy

Thu, May 09 2019, 4:41 pm

ectomorph wrote:

I'm very impressed you tried to organize. I just dump everything back in the bins.

It's probably part of the reason why my mental health is in such a deteriorated state after years of that! I do not recommend this!

Mommyg8

Tue, May 14 2019, 6:20 pm

Ectomorph, I just saw this thread. No advice that you're not already doing (baths, sand, digging, etc) but it sure brings back memories!

The only thing I can think of is - take pictures! One day you'll look back and you'll laugh (at least that's what they say, I haven't reached the laughing point yet, I'm still recuperating, jk). And of course, Shlomo Hamelech's magic words - גם זה יעבור...