Kids playing-am I crazy?

My daughter is 2 1/2 and every time she has a play date, I’m completely amazed at how her friends/cousins play. They literally shred the playroom to pieces. Now I’m not trying to say my daughter is perfect, she definitely makes messes too, she doesn’t clean up her toys every time and will drop them on the floor when she’s done, she can get rough and throw stuff sometimes. I totally get it that kids aren’t supposed to play perfectly. They’re exploring and learning. But all the kids that come over to play just tear everything apart. They’ll find a bucket of toys, dump it, scatter it, then walk away. And move onto the next bucket to do the exact same thing. They’ll take a doll and pull off her crown, dress, shoes, and then put her down. I had princess hooks hanging on the wall that held my daughters dress up dresses her 5 year old cousin not only ripped every dress and threw it on the ground but also pulled the hooks off the wall! Every time we have a friend over, my daughter later brings me a toy that’s broken, the arm is broken off a doll or ripped off a stuffed animal, the foam letters on the floor are ripped up, the rubber dresses the dolls are wearing are ripped up into little pieces, the tail on the mermaid is broken in half. I can go on and on. I’m sorry but is this normal play? Its literally every single time a kid comes over. And sometimes multiple times in one play date something gets broken and ruined. I end up having to hide half the toys whenever we have friends over because I don’t want them ruined. Like I said my daughter isn’t perfect by any means, but she plays with the toys how they’re intended to be played with, or in some other imaginative way. She takes out one or a couple toys at a time and plays with them. Or dumps something like legos but then builds with them. She’ll take one dress off the dress up hooks at a time. I know accidents happen and kids can be kids but I just don’t think this is normal. But it’s pretty much every single kid I’ve seen come and play, whether they are 3, 5 or even 9 they act like this! Maybe this is just how most kids are and I’m just lucky with my daughter. But I’m curious, are your kids/kids friends more like this or like how I described my daughter?

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COMMENT (7)

M

Posted at
If a child is visiting in your home and ripping or tearing things apart, it is important to speak up. Ask the child to stop or ask the parent to have their child stop. Your kid is very well behaved and most go through stages of not behaving. But damaging items isn’t cool. Yes my own daughter has torn something, she gets 1 warning and then a time out. Simple as that. It lasts 1 minute.

Ca

Posted at
Now that my daughter is close to 3, she’s rougher on toys. When she was younger she played more like you describe your daughter. So I’d say getting rougher and messier with toys is normal as they get older.But a 5 and especially a 9 year old are old enough to respect other people’s things even if they are rough on their own toys at home. At the very least they should be helping with clean up when playtime is over.

Ke

Posted at
My kid also put stuff away at 2. Now that he’s 3, he dumps stuff everywhere. It’s gotten way worse now that he’s older.

Ke

Kelsey • Feb 10, 2021
And used to play with toys as intended.

J

Posted at
It’s the novelty of being somewhere else where their own mothers won’t tell them off... so they let rip. It’s entirely possible that they are more careful in their own homes... and also that your daughter is more careless when she’s somewhere else on a play date too.

Br

Posted at
Say something to their parents! I’ve noticed some kids tend to be more reckless when they know they won’t receive repercussions for their bad behavior

Ra

Posted at
i swear to god i remember being a kid & wondering why tf other kids played so rough with their toys🤣 i was under 7 & played with my toys properly. i wanted totake care of them & not ruin them. especially my dolls. i’ve always been the same way with books too. i HATE when people fold the pages of paperback books & crease the spine too much. idk why it’s always pissed me off. my mom will open a brand new book and just presssss the front cover so it stays permanently creased. i’ve always yelled at her for it lol. i’m a recovering perfectionist... recovering bc nothing in life is perfect & i’ve come to terms with it. still i have my moments where things really bug me. kids playing too roughly with toys would really get under my skin. especially if every time they come over they’re breaking my kid’s toys. if it was me i’d have a talk with the kids that come over. at some point they need to learn respect for other people’s things.