Seriously, Why Can't I Have Anything Nice?

[crazydaycarelady]

I finally put the books up out of reach yesterday. I got tired of the kids getting them out then leaving them on the floor where they got stepped on or ripped. I have gone over and over with them to have me get the books out for them and to put them away when done, but no!

I swapped out the old crayons for a brand new box today. 2+yo broke a bunch of them.

They have ruined the pillows on my chair so bad that I threw them away. My carpet is trashed.

They won't leave anything in its proper place and push everything all over the place.

I am just so tired of it!!

[littlemissmuffet]

This might sound harsh, but when the kids start destroying items, I start taking EVRYTHING away and I will put things back bit by bit as they learn to appreciate and respect my home and the belongings in it. Simple... you can't play nice, you have nothing nice to play with

*hugs*

[crazydaycarelady]

That's where I am at. The books are GONE! They were pretty surprised this morning!

A lot of the toys with little pieces have been put away also.

[EchoMom]

My kids have a magnetic unstopable attraction to the DVDs underneath the TV in the cabinet. They ALL absolutely love to open the cabinet and scatter all the DVDs around. So you know what? We've had an empty TV cabinet for months!

[bunnyslippers]

This infuriates me! I taught in a public school preschool program for children with autism for 8 years, and my book collection never had any damage. Same books year after year, pristine condition. At the end of my second month of doing daycare, many of my books were damaged. I now only put out the cruddy ones. Oh well - if they can't respect my stuff and my home, then they can't have the good stuff.

I find it so interesting that in a school setting with children with special needs, the rule for respecting supplies and materials was followed at all times. In a home setting (which is, by the way, set up as a classroom separate from the rest of my home), kids think they can just trash the place. Another commentary on the low expectations of parents in the home, I suppose. If there are no expectations in thier home, I guess it must be confusing that I have them here.

Geez, I am a Bitter Betty today...

[countrymom]

This infuriates me! I taught in a public school preschool program for children with autism for 8 years, and my book collection never had any damage. Same books year after year, pristine condition. At the end of my second month of doing daycare, many of my books were damaged. I now only put out the cruddy ones. Oh well - if they can't respect my stuff and my home, then they can't have the good stuff.

I find it so interesting that in a school setting with children with special needs, the rule for respecting supplies and materials was followed at all times. In a home setting (which is, by the way, set up as a classroom separate from the rest of my home), kids think they can just trash the place. Another commentary on the low expectations of parents in the home, I suppose. If there are no expectations in thier home, I guess it must be confusing that I have them here.

Geez, I am a Bitter Betty today...

oh honey I'm with you today. I've had enough all week. You can be bitter betty and I'll be moody judy.

[countrymom]

surprisingly I don't have this problem, with the amount of books I have you would think they would get ruined. But I'm on them all the time. If they take a book out you need to sit in a chair to look at it. Also, I found that I have a bin that they can put the books in and at the end of the day I put the books away. This way they are not trying to cram them in.

my biggest surprise is that many kids barely have any books if any at home. I think my own kids would die if they didn't have books to read. I think this is why they really enjoy books here. I have one child who is now trying to read to the babies, its so cute.

[e.j.]

I'm always after the kids to pick up the books off the floor. It takes a lot of constant reminding but they get it eventually. I also have a set of "special" books (holiday books, books that go along with certain themes, classics, favorite books that I read often or books that belonged to my kids when they were little) that I keep on high shelves where they can't be reached. Board books, books that are donated to me and books that don't have special meaning to me get put out at kid level. That way, it doesn't bother me too much if they get ripped or broken.

The crayons.....ugh! I had one kid who loved to peel the paper off of each one. Now that he's gone, another is starting up! He'd rather peel them than color with them. I guess he's getting some fine motor skill practice in, too! I don't sweat the crayons too much, though, because I have tons of them leftover from when my own kids were in school. I used to buy a fresh box at the beginning of the school year for each of them. Any left in decent condition at the end of the school year were placed in a bucket for dc use so I haven't really had to buy crayons in awhile.

[Happy Hearts]

The crayons.....ugh! I had one kid who loved to peel the paper off of each one. Now that he's gone, another is starting up! He'd rather peel them than color with them. I guess he's getting some fine motor skill practice in, too! I don't sweat the crayons too much, though, because I have tons of them leftover from when my own kids were in school. I used to buy a fresh box at the beginning of the school year for each of them. Any left in decent condition at the end of the school year were placed in a bucket for dc use so I haven't really had to buy crayons in awhile.

used crayons can be melted and re-used happyface

[e.j.]

used crayons can be melted and re-used happyface

You know, I had done that several years ago. We put them in old muffin tins by color and melted them down. The kids loved using the "cupcake crayons". I had forgotten all about that. So maybe I'll just let my little guy peel away. That'll be one step the rest of us won't have to do! When all of his crayons are peeled, we'll just sort them by color and melt them. Thanks for the reminder!

[Meyou]

I just leave board books out now in the playroom. But I have book bags in my quiet play area so they have lots of access....just on their bums at the table in full view at all times.

[LittleD]

Its funny, cuz I have ones like that too. But it's my 3+ crowd, my babies are good at listening when I tell them not to stand on the toys, or to treat the books gently! It's the older crowd who come in like tornadoes and teach the babies to be destructive!

[LK5kids]

I have a book corner that has pillows and stuffed animals. It is partitioned off by a low shelf. Kids can't run around on the books as it's a place for sitting and there is no room for that. They can't build with the books, etc. If I have lots of young ones only board books are there.

I have always had books that the local library is selling for a dime in my book corner (except for the board books, rarely do they have them on the sale shelf). These are always beautiful books and I just got 10 more last night. If I couldn't get them from the library I'd get them from rummage sales and thrift stores. All my good scholastic books are kept for me to read for story time only and the kids don't have access to them.

I have the book corner books sorted by montly themes. I change them each month. Yes, I have to be firm about careful use of the books too.

In regard to crayons I think it's just expected that the developmental stage of 2's will be they will break crayons by accident or on purpose because they are exploring. I don't give 2's crayons. They will destroy them. I sit with them while they use washable markers...never on their own tho. My art area is blocked off from kids under 3 yrs. unless I'm in that area working on creative art with the younger kids.

Crayons aren't an overly exciting thing for a long time to lots of kids. Yes, they will just peel off the paper. Crayons are really more for maybe kids 3/4 yrs. and up. Lots of 3's really have no interest in using crayons.

[MrsSteinel'sHouse]

I keep board books down and available. I keep my other books up but, I will hand a small stack to them at certain times.
Crayons- I dump them into a plastic container and we use them. Developmental colored pencils are the best because of the drag on the paper but with little ones they don't work so well, sharpening, poking each other, etc. So we use crayons. I do not use markers unless it is for a specific craft. So, maybe a couple of times a year. I just find them messy. And since they offer no real drag on the paper they don't help develop the hand strength needed for writing. I buy them cheap by the dozen at the beginning of the school year. Peeling crayons is a fine motor skill

[providerandmomof4]

I know what you mean about not being able to have nice things...The group of dcks I have now really aren't too bad but I've had some little tornadoes in the past. I had one little dcg (2yr) that would look at books nicely and then, out of nowhere just start ripping out the pages. She did this to some of our favorite books and I still read them to this day. I just can't give them up. I ad lib on the pages that are missing and the kids never notice. So...I've come to realize it's a bad idea for my sanity to buy things for dc (or leave down where they can reach) items, that I will be upset if it gets ruined.