How do you get a monkey boy to stop, sit & listen?

AppleMomma

My son won't stop a listen to a book being read, he'd rather tear it up if he can get his hands on it. He won't listen to a thing we say, barely answers to his name. His hearing is fine since we had that checked last month. I'm really concerned with his attitude. It has change drastically so there are no events that have caused this, it just seems to be getting progressively worse. His 15mo sister sits and listens to a book even if only for a few minutes at a time. We discipline with timeouts and taking toys away, I just feel lost and embarrassed as this behavior shows up in public now.

Kadyra

Your son sounds like a normal, rambunctious, active boy. Remember that not all 2 year olds will sit nicely and do what you want in any situation, let alone a quiet and "boring" activity like reading. Many children just prefer to run around. They outgrow it in their own time. My SIL and MIL were convinced we were doing something wrong because DS would not sit with anyone and read more than one page of a book. It just wasn't his thing. I basically had to tell them to f- off and mind their own business. For whatever reason they didn't get that DS wasnt the same as nephew or niece. Now DS will sit with us for about half of the Giving Tree, but reading is still a struggle. DH says he was like this which makes me wonder what's up with MIL. FWIW, DH is almost always found with a book in his hand in his free time. Except during the world cup or Stanley cup playoffs! 

brookew86

I have to agree with the PP. Each child is different. Your DS is just more of an active child. Nothing wrong with that! Plus, at two, I could rarely get my DD to do anything I say anyway. It's not called the 'terrible two's" for nothing.

Of course, the three's are coming up next month for us, and I suspect DD will be holding onto some of her terrible twoness. Haha! Don't worry, he'll grow out of it and start listening soon...until he becomes a teen.  

Go_Dawgs

You just described my 23 month old boy to a T.  We can get through about one page of a book before he's trying to rip up the book or runs to the other side of the room to do something else.

It's normal.  They are just active boys.  I just try to find ways to let him burn off some energy.  We do a lot of singing and dancing to music.  He loves that.  When we go out to eat, it's to a restaurant where we can get up and walk around with him every so often to keep him entertained and let him move around.  The hibachi place we went to last night was a really big hit.  He also has a little Thomas the Train book bag that he takes with him every time we go out.  I fill it with an etch a sketch, toy cars, books, etc to help keep him entertained in public.