My triplets are 2 1/2 and are over running me! Almost every morning I wake up to some sort of disaster....whether a roll of toilet paper strewn throughout the house, a window crank flushed down the toilet, a box of pancake mix completely emptied and stomped into the carpet, an entire toybox emptied and spread out like 52 card pickup....I am at my whit's end. They don't listen to me. I give time outs and spankings, I have punished them to their bedroom for the morning, taken away TV and toys, yelled and screamed, I've even tried being nice but firm....NOTHING SEEMS TO WORK!! I don't remember my older daughter getting into even a quarter of the trouble my trio gets into on a daily basis. And it is everyday that they are in BIG trouble, not just minor spats. My house is small so separating them means one on the couch, one in the hall and one in a bedroom. They get plenty of love and affection, so I really don't think it's an attention thing. Their dad and I just got our divorce finalized and we had really gone through a tough separation. I have a wonderful man in my life who I am going to marry and he is more of a father than their own flesh and blood dad. I think these things are only partly related. I believe I am doing something wrong and my children don't respect me or give a flying leap about what I have to say. I know most of you who's triplets are older now must have gone through something like this. I need some serious advice!!!! HELP

Kelley
mom to Hailey (7/24/99)
Emily, Ashleigh, Natalie (5/19/01)

Kelley
mom to Hailey (7/24/99)
Emily, Ashleigh, Natalie (5/19/01)

Hi Kelley,
I used to have the same problem but fortunately they have improved in the last few months (due to age). They still do make messes but rarely do I encounter the types of disasters you described (notice I said rarely, it still does happen once in a while!). The only suggestion I can make is to try and add more structure to their play: sit them down and let them color or play with play dough, read to them, etc. I try to add a little structure between free play periods with my girls to keep them from going astray. Good luck.

Nettie

Mom to g/g/g age 4
and yr old big sister

Nettie

Mom to g/g/g age 7
and 11 yr old big sister
and ^angel big brother^

When my guys were that age, I had them in a "safe" room ALL the time, unless I was right there. Our family room had nothing in it but the couch and toys. I actually even took everything off the wall! I chose to do this because three heads get into way more mischeif than one ever could, and I didn't like having to say no all the time. Plus the safety factor. Soooo, I removed tempting things. They were not able to get out of their room in the AM without me. (I kept them in crib tents), so there was never the issue of them getting into stuff. Until they were potty trained they were not ever in the bathroom except for baths! So, they really had very little "freedom".

Little by little I have given them more rein, letting them play places I forbade before and I have had little (seem big to me0LOL) problems here and there, but nothing too bad. They are now 4 1/2 and can go here and there in the house, but still have to ask me to play upstairs. They have free rein of the downstairs, except for the LR and DR.

If I were you, I would get up some gates. Good luck!

Tamra

Tamra,
The morning is when they seem to get into the most trouble. How did you get your trio to actually stay in their room until you got up?

Kelley
mom to Hailey (7/24/99)
Emily, Ashleigh, Natalie (5/19/01)

Kelley
mom to Hailey (7/24/99)
Emily, Ashleigh, Natalie (5/19/01)

well, like I said, they were in crib tents so they couldn't get out if they wanted too. Then when we moved to beds (fairly late by most standards) we put childproof doorknob dovers on the inside of their door. There was no way I wanted little people moving around the house while I slept! I never would have slept at all!LOL
I have been WAY more structured then I ever expected, and put in many more boundries. But I felt/feel that with tree heads working together you have to take extra measures. And 2 1/2 is very young..

I have to ditto Tamra's advice. 2 1/2 is just coming back to me..haha (how quickly we forget). We still had gates everywhere until age 3 and my girls were also in cribs (1 w/ a tent) until age 3.

Nettie

Mom to g/g/g age 4
and 8 yr old big sister

Nettie

Mom to g/g/g age 7
and 11 yr old big sister
and ^angel big brother^

Just before my boys turned 3, I was going crazy. I joined a gym with a great daycare program. They were already in a playgroup and usually a sports class 1x a week.

By going to the gym, they had lots of fun activities to do and I got a break from them!

I found the challenge of that age was to keep them busy and get out of the house. My kids loved going out, if only to Costco. I'd buy them a churro or pretzel, do my shopping, come home. Not a huge excitement but they liked the change to our schedule.

Good luck. It's definitely a challenging age!

Sharon
6 year old b/b/b + 10 year old son

Kelley,

I feel your pain... My girls will be 5 in April and they did the same things to me, as your children are doing to you. I thought at times I was going to have a nervous breakdown. For me 2 & 3 years old was such a mad house, for me. I just wanted to let you know that your are doing nothing wrong. This to will pass.. Keep your chin up! If you would like to talk, please feel free to e-mail me.







Karen (Mommy of)
Kira Faith, Sara hope,
Lexi Joy (4 yrs) 4/15/99
Big sister Arielle (6yrs)

Karen
Mommy to GGG 8 yrs & G 9 yrs