How can I teach my toddler not to throw toys?

[Eli's_mom]

My 15 month old loves to throw things. He doesn't do it out of anger...I'm sure he is just throwing things to see how they land or what noise they make or whatever. We have a few balls that we play with in the house and we throw them back and forth and have a lot of fun. I have also on occasion joined in on my son's throwing sprees of other toys and we giggled and had a great time. But now I'm thinking that wasn't such a good idea. We had some visitors and he was throwing his blocks and one of them hit our guest. So I want to teach my son not to throw his toys, but I haven't the faintest idea how to do this, especially since we have balls that I would like him to feel free to be able to play with and toss around.

[The4OfUs]

Hi there - I feel your pain - I have a "chucker", too....here's a thread I started a little while ago with some suggestions; maybe they will help you too.

For the record, I bought him more balls so I could say "yes" to him throwing more, and have been pretty successful in keeping him from throwing other things I don't want him to throw by consistent repetition and reinforcement of "we throw balls, not our other toys" (though sometimes we have lapses)...it was sort of exhausting for a few days being on top of it so much (like, nonstop for a few days ), but has really paid off.

Good luck!

gate chucker thread

[mama24-7]

the one thing we do w/ everything is say: "we don't throw," "we don't hit," "we don't xyz," so my kids know that i expect all of us to not do whatever it is. seems to have worked pretty well so far .

Sus

[dswmom]

I agree...get more toys that are ok to throw, but also when he throws something that shouldn't be thrown to gently hand him a "throw" toy and say, we can throw this toy, but not X.

I know it's embarrasing when a guest gets pelted with a toy that shouldn't be thrown, but keep it in perspective as much as possible. Your babe is still so young. Just keep up the gentle reminders and redirecting every time!

I don't know if you've noticed this at all, but my ds starts throwing toys when he's tired. It's been the NUMBER one tired sign since he was under a year old...

Good luck!

[Venice Mamacita]

My DS -- 26 m/o -- throws toys (& other items) when he's excited, like when Grammy & Pop-Pop or his friend Lincoln arrive at the house. Mostly he does it to see what'll happen, like he's still working out the cause & effect thing. I know it's normal, but we do discourage like in PPs -- "We don't throw ____," "We don't throw at people," "We don't break things," etc. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't . . . just like everything else in GD!

[Eli's_mom]

Thanks for the responses. Donosmommy, I checked out your thread and I found it helpful. I had a feeling all I could really do was tell him we don't throw those toys and then redirect him, but I just needed some reassurance that I wasn't confusing him by letting him throw some toys (namely balls) but not others.
Thanks everyone!

[melissa_honeybee]

Well, my at-the-time two year old son threw a vhs and hit a seven year old visitor squarely between the eyes. That was really bad. Thankfully he grew out of the throwing stage. What we do is make it clear that throwing toys at people is unacceptable, it hurts. After we knew he knew this kind of behavior (including biting and hitting, etc) is wrong, he goes in the time out chair when he does stuff like that. Your son seems a little young for that, so in addition to telling him what he can throw and can't, I might put away some of the more pointy & hard toys when guests are over.

But really, anyone who has kids has been there and should be more understanding. I wouldn't encourage throwing toys at people, but don't stress out about it too much (and keep those vhs tapes out of the way!) he'll grow out of it.

[amyjeans]

We have a few balls that we play with in the house and we throw them back and forth and have a lot of fun

Perhaps he doesn't understand that some things can be thrown and others cannot? know what I mean? I think that is a big concept to grasp for little ones. I've found that my dd thinks only in black and white-no grey areas.
I have told my dd that she may not throw anything in the house.
She still does it from time to time, but I continue to remind her and stand firm on this.
When outside, the rule is she can throw as long as someone is there to catch- that way avoiding any surprise bonks on the head!

[Ellien C]

definitely show her what she CAN throw. Maybe a special corner where she can throw toys at a bin or target or something. It's a natural part of learning about gravity, self, strength, physics, arc, etc. See her as a little scientist learning and testing the limits of her body and the world.

[sadie_sabot]

What we did is set the rule that we can throw soft things in the house, but not hard things. We started that at a pretty early age, and if my kid threw anything not soft, I'd invite her to play a throwing game with soft things. often that worked. Now she won't even throw stuffed animals that have soft bodies but hard eyes!

nowadays, she throws things when she's frustrated, which is a totally different story!

[Tyleah]

throwing box

I have redirected throwing that seems to be getting beyond the tossing on the floor to someone's going to get hit stage by having dd or ds throw into a special box or laundry basket. You can make it more challenging by putting the basket on the couch or farther from the thrower. We also used dd's high chair as a basketball net. Balls or objects that land in the seat get the thrower one point and stuff that lands and rolls out the leg wholes get you 2 points. Redirect or get them outside or just put stuff up if you have to do something that makes it difficult to redirect.

[Eli's_mom]

I love the throwing box idea! I've got to do that!!!

[babybugmama]

some great ideas here. I think we mostly say, we can throw this, but not that. That may hurt someone if it hits them. I really like the idea of throwing into a box...I agree with amyjeans that at 15mos it may be difficult to understand why can I throw this, but not this?