are we doing the right thing?

[snoopy5386]

My DD is about to turn one and recently started crawling (with the past 6 weeks). Our livingroom is lined with 6 bookshelves filled with books, dvds, and cds, obviously very enticing to her. She loves to go over to the shelves and empty them, and we have been letting her do it. As of right now she hasn't done any damage to any of the items, but I am assuming she will in the future?? ie, ripping pages, etc. Am I sending the wrong message by allowing her to play with the items now but then in the future when she starts to destroy stuff, stopping her from playing with the books/dvds/cds? We redirect sometimes, but honestly it is the whole livingroom, so there isn't really any part of it to put her in where she isn't near the shelves. I am hoping the novelty of playing with the stuff will eventually wear off and she will leave the stuff alone. It is pretty much impossible to move the stuff anywhere else in the house.

[Spanish Rose]

I think you're fine.

[DevaMajka]

I don't think that ripping/destroying is inevitable. My ds has never been one to rip up books. Someone bought us a set of Dr. seuss books (paper pages) a year ago, and all are still totally intact.

I think you're doing fine. Deal with any ripping pages when it comes.

[Ks Mama]

Originally Posted by snoopy5386

My DD is about to turn one and recently started crawling (with the past 6 weeks). Our livingroom is lined with 6 bookshelves filled with books, dvds, and cds, obviously very enticing to her. She loves to go over to the shelves and empty them, and we have been letting her do it. As of right now she hasn't done any damage to any of the items, but I am assuming she will in the future?? ie, ripping pages, etc. Am I sending the wrong message by allowing her to play with the items now but then in the future when she starts to destroy stuff, stopping her from playing with the books/dvds/cds? We redirect sometimes, but honestly it is the whole livingroom, so there isn't really any part of it to put her in where she isn't near the shelves. I am hoping the novelty of playing with the stuff will eventually wear off and she will leave the stuff alone. It is pretty much impossible to move the stuff anywhere else in the house.

I think you're absolutely doing the right thing, and as soon as she's old enough to understand & "help" you put the CDs/books back on the shelf, then she can. In the meantime, just talk to her about what she's doing while she's taking them off the shelves, and talk to her about what you're doing when you clean up. It's a fun game, and the novelty will wear off, but she's constantly learning in the meantime. I don't think redirection is necessary... unless you really need a break from cleaning up the mess.

FWIW, my DD did all of those things, but never distroyed things. She also never ripped book pages, maybe because that's just her personality, or maybe because she understood that's not what we do with books - I always talked about how we're gentle with books, and books, ever since she was practically a newborn, have been for reading.

If you have anything that you REALLY don't want broken or damaged, find a place out of reach for the time being, until she can understand that some things aren't for playing with.

I think you're doing just fine.

[amyb15]

She will eventually get bored of it. She'll find something new to do, so help her find that new thing to do!

[maliceinwonderland]

When dd was little I only moved the things that were breakable and/or dangerous out of reach. She used to empty our shelves of our cds etc but has never destroyed anything. The novelty of it did wear off after awhile, and I always found the only things she continued to be interested in were the things that she really couldn't have, so I think it's better to allow them access to as much as possible. The only books she's ever destroyed are her own, and that's usually by deciding the colour scheme in them wasn't for her and "fixing" it to her liking