Every parent dreams of the day when their toddler begins to walk and explore the world around them. But when their child turns into a young explorer bent on taking apart the world and investigating every nook and cranny, they could be ready to rip their hair out. If this describes you and your toddler, take heart – this exploratory nature is not only normal; it’s a desirable quality in a child.
Curious Children, Wandering Hands, Terrible Toddlers
It seems odd that curiosity could lead to terrible toddlerhood, but let’s be honest – when your toddler gets into everything it can just make you crazy. They want to climb on everything. They want to open every door. They want to pull out every item. They want to touch, taste, feel, look at and listen to everything.
What are you to do in order to protect not only the things in your home, in other people’s home as well as in the stores and elsewhere and protect your child from hurting him or herself in the process? Here are a few tips to keep in mind while protecting your little explorer from the world and the world from your little explorer.
- Childproof your home and teach your toddler how to handle the more breakable items by keeping them secured in curio cabinets or beyond their questing finger reach – you can also show them how to touch them gently.
- Visiting a relative’s home? Give them a heads up about your questing toddler and ask if they can make at least one room child friendly enough to keep the toddler out of trouble
- Going to the Grocery Store? Tuck them into the seat and buckle them in securely – if they want to help and reach out for things, hand them the items that aren’t breakable and let them put them in the cart
- Redirect their impulses and energy – hand them a t-shirt from the stack of clean clothes to play with, let them help you shove damp clothes into the dryer and demonstrate what buttons they need to push on the remotes they are allowed to touch
- Be firm, but gentle and don’t make a huge deal out of it when they break the rules – toddlers are a perverse lot and they love big reactions whether they are good or bad reactions
- Distraction is your best defense – when your toddler won’t get out of something when you advise them to – give them something else to do. In our home we had a cupboard just for her – she loved to go in there and explore and we would refill it from week to week with new items that were safe for her to pull out and she would leave all the other cupboards be whether they were child proofed or not!
How do you handle your questing toddler?
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