Destructive phase?

KMEss86

My son just turned 2. He is extremely active and vocal. It has been about a month now that is just completely destructive. All he wants to do is dump out every basket of toys, rip his train set apart, throw all the food out of his play kitchen, etc. I took him to a friend's house to be babysat, who also has a 2 year old, and she commented that he did the same thing there. We were at a children's museum today and he did the same. They have a little house setup with kitchen. He just took everything out of the house and dumped it on the floor. Then he never plays with the stuff. Just dumps it and leaves. 

He does still get occupied with activities, but it seems like he is not happy until everything is chaos. I tried letting it pass. I just recently tried explaining to him how we should get out what we want to play with then put it away when were done, etc.

Help??  

Steph Bez

My DS who is 2 as well is currently going through this phase. Like you, I tried to ignore it, not encourage it, not even acknowledge it but it didn't work. Now I give him a warning three times to pick up the stuff he's thrown/stop throwing/clean up/etc and if he doesn't, he gets a one minute time out in the corner. I try not to talk to him, be near him or engage him at all. He usually throws a fit and says "all done" 10 seconds into it so I just keep saying time out, get in to time out, we don't throw toys, etc for a minute from the other room and then I ask him if he's ready to clean up/stop throwing toys/etc, he usually says yes, I give him a big hug, tell him I love him and then he goes to clean up. If he doesn't then I ask him 3 more times and repeat the process, it's new but it's actually been working so far. Other than that I try to divert his energy to certain tasks like playing with specific toys, play dog, helping mama do something (give him a paper towel and ask him to help clean or give him a broom or vacuum), keeping him occupied, fed, and not ever tired helps a ton