Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Why do I bother with other forums? (vent)

ARG I'm so frustrated! I was trying to ask on a cat forum about what I could do to keep my DS16mon out of our dog's water bowl. I got some good suggestions from a few people & everyone else just wanted to know why I'm not disciplining him properly.

Why is he allowed near the dog's water?
Why aren't you watching him better?
Don't you know he's going to drown?
Spank him and send him to his room!

GIVE ME A BREAK!!!

*head desk*

I'm sorry but I really believe my kid is smarter then the average, and if he wants to learn about his environment and the way things work by making a HUGE mess I'm all for it! Heck, I encourage it. We've gone out of our way to baby-proof the entire house, but I'm still the kind of person who lets my son turn on the the hot water & let him touch it so he understands that the water is hot. He may only be 16 months old but believe it or not he's smart enough to understand to turn on the cold too!!

I know that it is difficult to accept that some kids are just naturally smarter then others but it's true. I've accepted that both my brothers are WAY smarter then I am or will ever be, so what?? I have better legs .

It's hard even dealing with my husbands relatives about it (my family, we're all in the "special" category and they get it). We were up at the cottage with one of his cousins and Lucas is chowing down on dog food again. Yes it is completely gross but I actually can't physically stop him from doing it & still feed my dogs on a regular basis . He's just THAT curious about the way life is.

As long as there is no lasting physical or mental damage, I generally let him do what he wants. That doesn't mean we don't have rules about behaviour (I don't respond to temper tantrums) it just means I let him make huge messes and then sigh and clean it all up again after. In my eyes, there is nothing better in the entire world then watching that little light-bulb go off as he pours milk into his cereal bowl, and then all over the floor...

From the time Lucas was a year old he's been able to trick DH & I by waiting until we stop paying attention to whatever it is that he wants, or by diverting our attention to something knew - then goes straight back for the first thing!!

I wish I could just ask you guys every possible question I have about life, you're so much more understanding!!!

(FYI I got a great tip on a dog bowl meant for travelling that can be tipped right upside down & not spill).

Really -- don't worry about the dog food, especially if it is dry kibble. After all, it promotes a healthy immune system, helps provide a shiny coat and also builds strong teeth & bones! Some of the fancier varieties even include DHA supplements, guaranteed to add a few points to his scores!

But for the water dish, we just put out a second, LARGER (& spill proof) bowl that was purely for playtime, and explained that DC's bowl belonged to him.

That actually worked. The grandparents were never too thrilled, but c'est la vie, no?

Dandy

Mr W is a hound dog, too. As soon as he could crawl, he'd go to the dog bowl and splash the water out, spread it out on the floor, run out of water, go find us, and ask for us to fill it up again. The dog got blamed a few times, but we wised up.

He grew out of it.

Most dumb advice comes from people who don't have kids or trolls.

Dandy I'm crying you got my laughing so hard about the dog kibble.

See!? you guys understand!! .

We got DS a pool for the summer, but it's too cold & we had to put it away. The reason we got the pool was because he was throwing things in the toilet, that all stopped once he had a pool to play with. There was a hair elastic in there again yesterday *sigh*.

I tried just letting him have the dog's water but his curiosity about water knows no bounds. We don't have a bath tub which doesn't help. Yesterday he was running the tap and splashing it all over his head . I'm mondo pregnant right now (ok 6 months) and super clutzy so I'm really worrying about him spilling water then me not noticing and slipping.

I understand it's hard for people with "normal" kids to understand when I say discipline does NOT work with DS. He doesn't understand "No" but he does understand "No, Hot!". If he's standing on the dining room table and you say "Down" he just laughs and sits down, you have to say "Lucas, GET down".

He's only 16 months and already a smart ***!!!

Austin you're totally right, plus people with 5 or 6 cats are sorta weird anyway (not that we don't currently have 5 cats... )

Nes, I completely understand your frustration. I opened my mouth this week to a "friend" with MG kids thinking she would understand my concern with DS flying through EPGY. She didn't. Now I feel uncomfortable, p.o.'ed . . .

May I recommend putting a water table in your kitchen, bathroom, basement . . . It'll be more fun than the toilet (hopefully) and always keep my DC and their friends busy. It may be an unorthodox inside toy (but you have an unorthodox kid) and it works as long as you can keep it on a surface that can handle getting wet. It'll get you through the winter. Plus it is always fun to bring snow into the water table for "experiments" . . .

P.S. With 5 cats, I'd avoid getting a sand table.

If our kids are not already over the top curious, add a pet into the mix and see what happens. Nodding my head on this end as I read your post. Water bowls are the best toy in the house. We go through waves with DD3. She was fascinated with the dogs' food center from a very early age. She tried some food, yum and always played in the water. We could have picked up the bowls and kept it out of her reach and on a few occasions when she out and out refused to leave it alone we did for a few days but I fully believe that they have to learn to co-exist. As far as the spank them and all of that crap; I shiver to think about the kids raised by those parents. I said a long time ago that I am not opposed to spanking but only a quick pop on the bottom or hand to get their attention and only when they are potentially harming themselves such as a hot stove. I never had to do it because DD understood the concept of hot from a very young age. By age 2 she was able to cook with us at the stove top because she understood not to touch it.

DD still will get into the water bowl every once in a while. She gets a timeout instantly and after her timeout she has to help clean up. Though cleaning up is more of a reward for her, but having to sit in the timeout while I start to clean up ... now that is pure punishment. :P

DS has never had pets but for a long while he would be our puppy, kitten, rabbit, mouse - whatever took his fancy! and that generally involved finding a bowl, any bowl to fill with water put on the floor and drink out of. Thankfully my parents live on the other side of the world - and we don't have any friends to disapprove

SP - the water table is a GREAT idea, but we live in a very old house so all our floors are sloped . I think you can guess what happens when something gets spilled around here... We did weather proof the porch this year though & it has an fairly-even floor, if it can stay above freezing I'll take you up on that suggestion!

KM, That's exactly what I do! He gets a little tap on the hand if he tries to touch the electrical socket (for instance) so he knows what I'm talking about. Of course then he just laughs, looks straight at me and tries to do it again ! It's all about testing his boundaries! After a dozen or so times he will stop.

Same thing with biting, and he bit me HARD last night, then he tried to show me he just wanted to put his teeth against my hand... no deal kid!

So freaking cute, it's hard to get mad at him sometime!

Spook, I like your idea! You should have heard the grand-parents when we took the rail off his crib!!

My opinion on eating dog food... AVOID IT!
We raise beef, we eat our own beef and sell it privately and also sell our calves to others who feed them for the market. There are beef by-products in dog food that are not approved for human consumption. The risk of illness is miniscule, but why take this risk? Every child needs to learn 'no', this is as good of a time as any.

I just know, for my own kids anyway, that they would be bound to bypass the kindly provided water table and head back to the dog bowl. Perverse creatures. I discovered DS7 could crawl the day he pulled himself over to the bag of chicken-poo fertiliser next to me in the garden - I just turned around and there he was, with a happy mouthful. No much point in worrying about anything after that. What spectacular immune systems my children must have.