The Rambunctious/Careless DCG

[spud912]

I have a dcb who is 2 1/2 and really big (almost 50 lbs and tall!). He is very careless and has trouble keeping his hands to himself. I don't mind the occasional hug or pat on the back, but he is constantly touching, pushing, touching and hitting with toys, running into the other children, taking their toys, etc. Half the time he does it because he is being clumsy and careless (like when he runs into the other children and knocks them over, he accidentally rams them with his head, or he is swinging a toy around and it hits someone). I'm always reminding him not to run in the house, not to swing toys around, etc. The other half of the time he is being playful but it is entirely too rough. Here are some examples of what he does:

• He is raking outside with a toy rake and he accidentally drives it into another child's leg.
• He is trying to climb up the ladder to the slide and pushes someone out of the way as a result.
• He has a toy animal "walk" onto another child's face and pokes that child in the eye.
• He sees a child on the floor with a blanket and "tackles" that child.

It's getting to the point where the other children are getting bruised and/or scratched from his misbehavior. I spoke with the parents yesterday and they picked him up early. I wasn't intending for them to pick him up....just thought they ought to know. I almost feel that picking him up was more of a reward than a punishment. I know they feel like it's a problem that only pertains to daycare since he is an only child, but it will be a problem for him later in life if they don't help get this under control.

Most of his injuries that he inflicts on the other children happen so fast I can't stop it, so it has gotten to the point where I just set him up with activities away from the other children. When he does do it, he automatically is separated from the others, I get down to his level and explain what he did wrong and ask him to make it better with the other child (in his case he gives a hug and says sorry).

Does anyone have any suggestions I can do while he is in my care? Would you be discussing these issues with the parents? If so, what do you expect out of the parents?

[AmyKidsCo]

It sounds to me like you nailed it - he's clumsy. It sounds like he's just one of those "bull in a china shop" kids who don't even know the havoc they're creating around them. I had a girl like this 5+ years ago but because she was petite she caused more harm to herself than others.

He obviously needs more time to grow into his big body - in the meantime try to give him lots of outdoor time. By moving in large spaces, climbing, jumping, etc he'll get extra energy out and practice controlling his body.

[spud912]

Just realized the title of the thread said dcGIRL, it's a boy .

Yes, he is definitely the bull in the China shop! When he is outside he runs a lot, which is great! The only thing is we are now in our hot season and can only safely play outside for 30-45 minutes, if that. In July, there will be days we can't go out at all due to extreme heat advisories of over 110 degrees and I usually do plan more physical activities inside for those days. Even when we are outside, he swings things around and bulls into the others. Like today one of the other kids got a small puncture wound from him "raking" with the toy rake, inadvertently clawing the child's leg. There are other times he swings sticks around and hits the other children. We have a tree outside that sheds about 5 sticks every hour so the ground is littered with them.

What would you do about the constant need to touch the other children, put toys on them and wrestle with them?

He is a sweet boy and very lovable, he just gets riled up extremely easily. Now that I have more boys than girls it happens all the time.

[TwinKristi]

You described a DCB that I have but he has some developmental delays and is also very big for his age. He is very clumsy, very strong and easily knocks people over or is too rough sometimes. For him, I taught him "hands to yourself" and I have him fold his arms on himself and we say it a couple times. Now I just have to says "hands to yourself" and he pulls his arms away and folds his arms. He is more of a daredevil that doesn't understand danger or getting hurt. He would jump off something high with no fear at all! But he's so big that when he falls, he falls hard or can land on someone or smack someone falling. But otherwise he's a great eater, great napper, goes with the flow most of he time.