Sunday, July 27, 2008

Calling All Mothers

Posted by One Fish
I have a question. Red Fish will NOT stop trying to stick her fingers into every electrical outlet she can find. I have put the plastic protectors in the outlets in our house but she finds them everywhere we go! The cabin, grandparent's, friends houses etc. I cannot protect them all nor do I spot them as fast as she seems to. Anyone have any brilliant ideas of how I can encourage her to leave them alone? The no no route doesn't seem to be working. She just shakes her head no at me and continues to try and jam a fat finger into the outlet.
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2 comments:

Lisa said...

The only real option is distraction. Even if she can understand what "no" means, she doesn't have the impulse control to actually follow that direction. All you can do is to quickly move her to something else. I think the more you call attention to something that is forbidden by pointing it out constantly, the more they will do it.

I would just briefly say something like, "Come away! Danger! Hurt you!" and quickly distract her with another toy or activity. Yes, you will have to do it over and over and over for some time. But the fascination will pass. There really isn't a way that you can a) make her understand that it's dangerous and 2) be able to actually control herself to not do it at this age.

Welcome to impending toddlerhood!

July 27, 2008 at 9:36 PM
Blogful said...

She's probably enjoying whatever attention you are giving her when she does it: loud voice, scooping her up, close talking face to face. I agree distraction is the best route at this point. I swear for six months all I said to Jane was, "No." Maybe try to make it boring when you distract her, so she's not getting the reinforcement? Don't make eye contact, just say no and move her away?
I don't think electrocution would be a good idea, but my friends baby got a little zap once when he was small and it quickly stopped his habit.

July 28, 2008 at 7:42 AM

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