Btdt parents please help

Anyone have an issue with their child doing small things very infrequently (like once a year) that damage the house in some small but significant way? How did you put a stop to it? Dd is 6 and its happened maybe 3 times total but I have no tolerance for it. It's just stuff but I care about my stuff. She wrote her name on a brand new banister that she helped daddy install, hung from a bathroom towel ring and pulled or out if the wall, peeled up a seam in brand new wallpaper and now scratched a design into the wallpaper. The seam I could fix wih glue. The scratches I cannot fix. She is really bright and otherwise very well behaved. I always think we've gotten through and hen 6 mos late something else happens. She said she was bored in the bathroom because she had a lot oif poop (sorry tmi). I need solutions that worked! Do I need a child psychologist?

Re: Btdt parents please help

No, you don't need a child psychologist. Your daughter is 6. Kids do things like this and it is completely normal- they get bored and their curiosity takes over. Chances are that she isn't trying to ruin things.

Btdt parents please help

I did most of those things and more. I was a kid. I never intended to break or ruin things. My parents never sent me to a child psychologist over it. I was just a kid being a kid doing silly kid things.

Re: Btdt parents please help

I don't think this warrants a child psychologist. I do think it warrants a punishment even if it's an accident.

I do think it's completely normal though. We had an issue with someone "playing" with scissors & cutting their jeans. I told them the next time I see a cut in a pair of their jeans, they're paying me for them. I haven't seen it since so either they ware hiding them or afraid to lose the Scrooge like stash of coins they've accumulated.

Re: Btdt parents please help

What we need is an appropriate punishment that will be effective. I don't feel like what we've tried so far has been effective

Re: Btdt parents please help

Btdt parents please help

I don't think you need a psychologist. Sounds like a typical 6 year old. I would just find appropriate punishments and I agree with the OP. If there is a long time frame between each "incident", it sounds like your punishments work. Kids are just curious....I started my dads boat on our front lawn when I was a kid (he had it there during the winter), I was extremely curious LOL

Re: Btdt parents please help

As awful and annoying as those things are - I do think that it is part of being six too. I am sorry she is doing it. I would have her fix the things she broke and either take the money out of her allowance or if she does not have an allowance I would make her give some money towards the project from her piggy bank. I would explain that it costs you money and time to fix things and that she needs to appreciate how things work. As for the writing - try a magic eraser to remove the words from the wall. As for the carving - I would try to sand it down and revarnish it. I am so sorry. I do understand - my son disappointed me in his behavior at ice skating classes this morning - he flailed himself on the ice and almost cut someone with his skate. Now of course, he did not mean to hurt another kid. He did not even see that someone was behind him. However, he should know better. I had a long discussion with him about appropriate behavior and the consequences to his actions. Ie. skating costs money and time, if he can't behave we will not be having more classes, and maybe I won't sign him up for other things because if he can't behave why should we waste our time/money and go.

eta: the towel bar- at home depot they sell this mesh wall patch that you attach with putty. You then get sand paper and sand it so the wall is flat. Use a sponge to do it with a wet sand. Then you take some paint and touch up the area. It takes a few days to do it, as it needs to dry between sandings. I have done it before and it is relatively easy to do. After that I would get a towel hook. Even just the weight of a wet towel can make an improperly hung towel bar fall down. If the bar was not attached to the studs this can happen very easily without much of a tug.

Message edited 1/26/2013 2:25:27 PM.

Re: Btdt parents please help

Posted by Mrs213

Posted by cloddy

What we need is an appropriate punishment that will be effective. I don't feel like what we've tried so far has been effective

If you punish her and she doesnt do it for a year it sounds to me like she is a very good kid

Btdt parents please help

I think it's part if being a kid. If that's all my DS does as he gets older I will be the happiest mom on the block.

Re: Btdt parents please help

Ok so I guess the consensus is that this is part of being a kid. I am being too hard on her. She will have to start
Contributing to fixing things. I only wish she had enough money in her piggy bank to pay for new wallpaper.

Re: Btdt parents please help

Are the scratches across multiple sheets of the paper? Did you have any left over pieces that you could use to fix the problem? Could you get just one panel and have that one rehung?

Re: Btdt parents please help

Re: Btdt parents please help