Throwing things

[mama*pisces]

My 2 yo ds's new favorite pasttime is throwing, everything he can get his hands on. I started out with the "We don't throw 'x', we throw balls." So now he'll throw 'x' (or 'y' or 'z'), look at me and say: "Throw balls?" Sort of funny and cute, but also annoying because he obviously knows that what he just threw is not a ball, but yet he still throws it and states the rule to me.

I've tried taking whatever it is he threw, but he just moves on to something else. Not knowing what else to do, I've resorted to yelling a lot recently. This is not a place where I want to parent from. I started today with a mantra: "I will not yell today, I will come from a place of compassion, no matter what." And I made it till 4:30, when he threw his bag of markers across the table and came very close to knocking over a brand new crystal vase that was just given to me yesterday. I almost flipped my lid(this was not the first event of throwing today.)

Please help me. This is driving me nuts, and I do not want to be a yelling parent.

[cyndimo]

I know exactly where you are coming from...
My DS does WAAAAY too much throwing for my taste, and I do WAAAAYY too much yelling.

I'm eager to hear about other suggestions.
FWIW, we take away anything that he throws for the rest of the day. Yes, he just moves on to the next thing and some days we pretty nearly clear out all of his toys and he is then left with a few small matchbox cars or trains. (In fact, our lives become much more pleasant when there are fewer toys hanging around!)
That's had mixed results. However, there is still a lot of throwing, so we have added a modified time-out to the process. If he throws something, we scoop him up and he has to sit still with nothing that can be thrown for 2 1/2 min (I've heard a rule of thumb is 1 min/year of age, so he's a little over 2.5yo). Sometimes this amount of time is enough so that he's distracted from the throwing.

Like I said, I'm not thrilled with how this aspect of our family is working, so I'm eager to see if you get any good suggestions.
- Cyndi

[mama*pisces]

Thanks for your reply, Cyndi. Time-outs used to kinda work for us when he was about 18 months or so, but they don't really seem to work anymore.

I know that this is *typical* two-year-old behavior, and I know it will pass, but I would just like some examples of how I might better handle it so that i don't lose my mind, not to mention possibly encourage the behavior by putting on a show.

Anyone else?

[mama*pisces]

I might have found a possible answer to my own question.

DS and I were hanging out in his room earlier, when he started throwing around a little ball similar to a tiny beach ball. It is air-filled, so it's soft, and there is nothing breakable in his room. We started taking turns throwing it against the wall, trying to hit the decorative wall hanging(just something to aim at). We both had fun with this, and now I'm thinking that whenever he feels the need to throw, I'll suggest that we go up to his room and throw his ball around, so that he can *get his throws out* and I won't have to go out in the 90 degree heat 12 times a day in order to meet this need. In this way I can say yes instead of no.

So, I'll try it tomorrow, and see how it goes.

[hipumpkins]

Invest in some nerf balls, too.