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Toddler Tornadoes
Making a Mess or Exploring and Learning? By Dawn Colclasure
Books lie scattered across the floor. A variety of toys linger in different parts of the room, and chairs that once sat around a table now lie on the floor in a makeshift construction of a playground. No, this is not the work of a tornado. These messes are the compliments of my 2-year-old daughter who peeks out from under a chair with a grin.
Despite her cheerfulness in the wake of this disaster, I can only prepare for the task of cleaning up the room. A frown comes to my face as I settle my gaze upon my toddler, whose favorite pastime seems to be creating one mess right after another.
"The most important thing to understand about typical toddler 'messes' is that, developmentally, they are perfectly normal, expected behavior," says Spencer. "Toddlers get into things because they are curious. They're working to learn what things are, how they work and what happens when they are dumped or dropped or tossed or scattered. They also have a short attention span, so they flit from thing to thing. And they definitely are too young to have an adult sense of neatness."
In fact, Spencer points out, this "adult sense of neatness" is commonly (and unfairly) expected from a toddler. "That's developmentally impossible," she says.
Amy Halloran, of Troy, N.Y., has learned to drop this expectation. "I think my 16-month-old sees it as his job to take all the books off a shelf, all the toys out of the basket or all the anything out of the thing I leave in reach," says Halloran. "I have pretty low standards for housekeeping, so I let him have his way until my way is blocked, and then I clean up and start the cycle again."
Besides being curious, there is one other reason why toddlers may cause messes throughout the day: boredom. "Boredom might be a factor for older toddlers," Spencer says. "Do they have enough toys, books and outside playtime to keep them occupied?"
Still, parents of toddlers must keep in mind that causing little (or even big) messes here and there is just part and parcel of the world of toddlerhood. "A toddler has no concept of neatness, so they don't have a concept of messiness," Spencer says. "This is a stage, and by around ages 3 to 4 the intense random messes will ease up as your child's attention span increases and he develops new interests and better self control." She adds that "with 1-year-olds, it's just part of the territory."
