# My Almost 3 Year Old Won't Stop Spilling Things On Purpose!



## Becky Wheeler (Jun 19, 2011)

I have tried just about everything to get her to stop this. Sometimes I get so upset I want to break something! She'll be 3 in a month and she KNOWS better. She makes promises and looks me right in the eye and says she'll remember next time not to spill something on purpose. But if I'm cooking or if I'm feeding the baby, she's spilled something on purpose. And I usually hear about it from my 5 year old and by the time I'm done dealing with it, dinner is burnt or the baby is crying! And then I get so upset and just feel like curling up and crying because it feels like I'm not teaching her right or I must be doing something wrong.


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## Mittsy (Dec 29, 2009)

Does she have a lot of opportunities to pour things? I remember my ds going through a similar stage around that time, he wanted to pour/spill everything in sight so I gave him lots of opportunity, with the pouring/spilling and also the subsequent cleaning up.


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## Becky Wheeler (Jun 19, 2011)

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Mittsy*
> 
> Does she have a lot of opportunities to pour things? I remember my ds going through a similar stage around that time, he wanted to pour/spill everything in sight so I gave him lots of opportunity, with the pouring/spilling and also the subsequent cleaning up.


She does when she gets a bath every other day. Could it just be the fascination of watching how liquid falls and spreads and the repetition of it? If so, I'll do everything in my power to help her do it in a better way. LOL


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## Mittsy (Dec 29, 2009)

It might be. Water was ds' favorite thing to pour at that age. I let him play in the sink with measuring cups, ladle water into bowls/cups in his kitchen, pour beans or rice into little teacups and then we worked up to water, he also loved helping to mop up whatever water was left on the ground.


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## lauren (Nov 20, 2001)

The only way I used to get dinner cooked was to put my child up on a stool at that age and let him play in the sink for about an hour of dumping, pouring, etc. Some children have a much greater need for this type of activity and it can be a soothing sensory experience for them. Your daughter may have sensory cravings that are not being met.


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## Becky Wheeler (Jun 19, 2011)

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *lauren*
> 
> The only way I used to get dinner cooked was to put my child up on a stool at that age and let him play in the sink for about an hour of dumping, pouring, etc. Some children have a much greater need for this type of activity and it can be a soothing sensory experience for them. Your daughter may have sensory cravings that are not being met.


Update: I've experienced a much better first half of my day, letting her play with a pitcher and large cup, pouring back and forth. She didn't spill hardly any. The great upside of this is that she's learning how to pour without spilling.


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## blessedwithboys (Dec 8, 2004)

Great job honoring the impulse!


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## lauren (Nov 20, 2001)

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Becky Wheeler*
> 
> Update: I've experienced a much better first half of my day, letting her play with a pitcher and large cup, pouring back and forth. She didn't spill hardly any. The great upside of this is that she's learning how to pour without spilling.


That is SO COOL!!!!


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## MamaPrincess (Aug 1, 2012)

I would provide more opportunities for "controlled spills" . Yes they love water at this age and bathtime is way under what they need.

I remember taking our baby bathtub to the dinning room, setting it on the floor over a towel and garbage bag for spill protection

and she would pour cups, wash dolls, do anything she wanted with it. It was awsome attention span extender..

she could play literarly for hourse with it.. I would do something in the kitchen watching her as I would set it so she could have fun

in a safe manner.

we used old baby bath stacking cups and she would pick tons of things she would put inside, sometimes she wanted to add

soap and make bubles.

yes, I would think that it definietley release their need for water experience but in different manner as being in the bathtub

and it is just sort of expermient feel to it, they just play and study the water.. not the same as bathtub. and they can

do it till they have enough and then you know they really had a fill of it


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## Becky Wheeler (Jun 19, 2011)

Thank you all for your input! It helps remind me that my child isn't giving me a hard time, she's HAVING a hard time!


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