Attention mylot Mums & dads i need your advice

@jade01 (803)
Australia
January 1, 2007 9:23pm CST
my 3 yr old son wont stop pulling and breaking his toys, we have punished him by timeout, sending him to his room, taking all his toys away and yet he still keeps doing it. Help me please, what do i do???????????????????
2 people like this
6 responses
@Metallion (2227)
• United States
3 Jan 07
Does he understand what he is doing is breaking the toys? Maybe he doesn't understand what is happening. Before you can punish him need to make sure he knows why the punishment is being given.
1 person likes this
• United States
3 Jan 07
I agree with this point as well....thats important.
1 person likes this
@jade01 (803)
• Australia
3 Jan 07
Oh he understands alright, he may only be 3 but he is advanced for his age in a lot of areas and that adds to his naughtyness.
• United States
2 Jan 07
How does he keep doing it if you have taken all his toys away? Keep ALL of his toys put up for 1 week. Don't give into his whining and crying for them. Let him have things that cannot be broken, such as blocks and etc. ONLY for that week. After that, give his other toys back, and if he continues, try again, for two weeks this time. Continue adding a week each time. Maybe that will help.
1 person likes this
@jade01 (803)
• Australia
2 Jan 07
thankyou, thats great advice
@medooley (1873)
• United States
2 Jan 07
Yeap this is a good idea... it is hard to break what you don't have. Also, if he breaks toys quit buying them. When you go to the store and he asks to have a new toy tell him No... he can not have a toy because he breaks them.
1 person likes this
@lonewolfnan (4366)
• Canada
16 Jan 07
I cheated and read all the responses to your discussion before putting in my 2 cents worth . I am not a psycholigist or anything,but I do have a question or 2. Why has the child stated doing this?has there been a change recently in what he is seeing/watching/learning? Have you ever had the chance to watch you son play?often we can find a clue there. Have you checked online to see what the "experts" say on the subject? None of these questions will answer your problems,but hopefully they can give you ideas/options on how to stop these actions now. Good luck and don't worry;there are many more years of questions to come.
@wmaharper (2316)
• United States
12 Jan 07
This is what I would do, I would sit him down and tell him, Son, because you are breaking your toys you are not allowed to play with them anymore. You will have to earn them back, Then, Tak EVERY SINGLE TOY AWAY.. (i know this seems extreme, but just follow me here) Tell him in order to earn them back (he can earn them back a couple at a time) he must be a good boy, behave etc.. Once he has earned a couple back, then in order to earn more, he must play nicely with his toys. Keep having him earn them back until he has them all.. also, maybe he has TOO many toys in his room, maybe put some away for awhile, and rotate them out.. just be consistent and don't back down. .. no matter how much he whines and cries, tell him that if he can not respect his toys and things, then he cannot have them.. That's what I would do! Good luck to you.
@missytia (387)
• Australia
12 Jan 07
Hi jade, I can understand what you are going through. My daughter went through a phase where she was breaking her toys as well. So every time I cought her trying to break one of her toys, I simply just threw it in the bin. I know it seems extreme, but it worked. She screamed and cried for ages after I threw it in the bin. Also another time, I caught her trying to break one of her toys so, I simply took it from her, broke it myself, right it front of her and threw it away. I told her that if she wanted her toys broken, I would help her, but she wasn't going to get anymore to replace them. She has NEVER tried to break anything since. I know it's your hard earned money that's giving your son his toys, but you should only have to throw a couple out in front of him before he gets the idea. Good luck.
• United States
16 Jan 07
I have a three year old son who enjoys playing with all his stuff. He used to break his stuff until one day he asked us to fix his new truck. We explained it had to go in the garbage because of what he done. We never had anymore trouble. Now if he tries to do anything he isn't suppose to do with his toys, we remind him he won't have it to play with anymore because the garbage can will get it.