I sincerely doubt there's a solution to this :) Kids are just like that at that age. My son's like that too and he's 20 mo. The only way around him touching and breaking everything is:
1. Avoid situations where he could get hold of lots of breakable stuff
2. Make sure our house is child proof
3. Entertain him when we're somewhere so he doesn't go around touching things.

My daughter is really, I dunno, self reliant I guess. She doesn't often like to be entertained, she wants to be by herself doing whatever it is she wants to do. When she gets with other kids she is fine as long as they leave her alone, but once they get in her business she gets mean. I'm worried about it but I hope it's just that her social skills are slower in developing.

So we can't go tons of places, and our house, I swear, will never be Marlow proofed! She can get into anything and everything! She can open cupboard locks, she pulls out every plug in cover. She can climb like nobody's business, and fast, so if she is out of sight for more then two minutes she is likely to be on her way onto the kitchen table or on the couch 'exploring' all the things we stash on the back that she's not to have.

I just wish she would listen a little better. It's like she doesn't even hear me, I have to repeat her name ten times for her to even acknowledge that I'm telling her something! I hope this stage ends before age 18!! :)

use "All done" and remove her from the situation or take object. I've noticed "All done" is a positive way to get a message to the child that they don't get to play with something anymore. I've been using this consistantly and when we say it theres a more immediate responce.

All Done might work in certain situations for us. Like when he grabs the remote, the telephone, the cell phones...I always take it away and say "Thats Mommy's"

Ive been thinking about this a lot lately too because I dont want him to become immune to NO or STOP. One thing we've been doing when we are changing him or he is doing something he isnt supposed to....is make a noise. Its firm and its like "eh-eh" or "ah-ah" sharp and short. It will usually startle him a little enough to stop. Its not perfect but it has worked in many cases. I wish I could describe it better because its more of a sound then a word.

I do the same thing, Roxiesmama. I clear my throat or say AH-em. It triggers the startle reflex and cannot be tuned out. My daughter hears that and she will automatically back away and move onto something else. :o)

I've been an advocate for not using no, don't, stop, etc for a long time. DD was not even a year old and she was already starting to ignore me. Kaja is right on with her advice. If you're in a constant battle with your child over breakables, then make it so she can't get to them. Create a completely child safe environment. No access means no getting yelled at, no arguments, and leads to an all around happy child. Try it- you'll notice a difference.

Whenever DD gets into something she shouldn't, I ALWAYS (consistency is important) pick her up, make eye contact, and shake my head. She doesn't get upset. The only time she has a tantrum is if something is ripped out of her hand too quickly. That's easy enough to avoid- replace whatever she is holding with something more interesting that she is allowed to have. She's too busy playing with the new toy to notice that the other thing is gone.

I just wanted to add- Nina was terrible at figuring out child proofing things. I had to put up a child gate (that she could not open) in front of the kitchen and cut it off entirely. She was the same with cabinet locks- child proofing items posed more harm than they did good, so we had to get rid of them.

If your kiddo gets upset when you take something away, encourage her to voice what she feels. This will help HEAPS down the road. My daughter's got a habit of running her aggressions off. When she gets into her toy throwing mood, I take them off of her (to keep her from hurting herself) and she'll get upset. She'll run up and down the hall waving her arms calm down all on her own. If you tell kids to shut up or stop crying, that causes the vicious cycle of repression. Bottling up emotions for toddlers is bad.

One last thing, try to avoid repeating her name so many times when you are asking for her attention. How would you feel if someone was doing that to you? I know it would irritate me to no end. If you wouldn't like it, isn't it a bit unfair to subject your child to it? If she doesn't respond the first time, get up and touch her on the shoulder or pick her up and make eye contact. A little bit more work now will save you in the long run. She will eventually learn to respond to her name, just give her time.

I go with positive ways to get her to stop (i,e, "all done" or "that's not ours" etc). I only get out NO or DON'T when it's really serious and that way she knows it's a big deal. I generally just try to distract her from whatever she's doing. So in the bathroom when we are brushing our teeth, she is obsessed with the stopper and it's disgusting. So I will take it out of her hands and say, "all done" and then give her something else to play with like a hair tie or will play a silly game with her to get her to focus on something else.

I think positive redirection is the best way to go. I can tell you, I used to work with middle school aged kids and they are not only completely immune to no and stop (think it's funny, really), but pretty much any other phrase used to get them to stop doing something. The only thing that ever worked was to distract them.

Thanks for the post..I say NO like 100 times a day...the dogs and Emma and it seems relentless. I try positive methods too..or with the stove instead of No...we say HOT or OUCH. Same with the fireplace..but often it's NO NO NO :)..lol.

Try to state what she should be doing rather than what she should not be. ie Be gentle when petting kitty rather than saying don't be so rough with the cat. Other suggestions: If possible put things away that she is getting into. I remember my sister-in-law would ask if she could put away some breakables when her daughter would come over. That was before I had my little guy and I totally did not mind. Redirect or distract - "look at the pretty toy over here". Remember, your daughter is a totally normal 14 month old! Developmentally it is normal for her to touch everything and not listen to you. It sucks, but at this stage you just have to follow her around in a house with lots of things to break and intervene! I have a friend who is so good at this that she never misses a beat with her conversation while she takes away something from her son's hand and distracts him with a toy. Good luck!

I have to add this (it will probably never happen again, but it was awesome!) -- today we were at music class, which is held in a fancy retirement community (it's an intergenerational music class). It's in their sitting room which is all decorated for the holidays. My daughter sauntered over to one of the displays and was starting to poke at it. She looked back at me to see if I was looking, and I swear, all I did was shake my head and beckon her back with my finger... and she came back to me with no complaint!!!! Now, I'm sure she wasn't THAT interested in this display, because I don't think that would have worked otherwise. But still, it was pretty awesome.

I have to add, too, that I pick my battles with her. She is very gentle and pretty much past the age where she puts things in her mouth so unless I really think she could damage something or hurt herself, I let her explore with a watchful eye. I think that because of this when I ask her not to do something she tends to listen better because I'm not constantly asking it of her.

Your right about them hearing no they start not to react to it as much this is because we say no to everything as they are learning what they can't do. I would stick to no when it's a serious thing like touching outlets, and use don't , hold on wait for other situations! Still she needs to learn the meaning of no so say it then move her from the temptation she is still young. Good luck!!!

We do the positive instead of the negative things, like 'be gentle to Kongo' when she's beating the dog. And it sometimes works.

The noise, like eh-eh or clearing my throat, makes her pause and then kick it into high gear in order to finish doing whatever it is she isn't to be doing before I get there!

My biggest worry is my SO has a sick grandma. She is entering the first stages of alzheimers and she had a stroke thirty years ago so she has limited mobility. Joey wants his grandma to meet Marlow and vice versa as much as they can before she no longer remembers anybody. But when we take Mar to her house it's so un-baby proofed it's nuts. It's full of curio items and we can't move them as her memory is already iffy and she goes on a tangent if her things get touched. The doc's are worried about dimentia as well. Marlow is like a hurricane in her home!

We go so many places where she CAN touch that I think she get's mad when she can't. We spend our weekends at pet stores(we let her touch all the animals and she has held a tarantula!), in a local store that caters to toys dedicated to learning, at the park looking at leaves, flowers, trees and dirt. We go swimming and encourage her to stick her face in the water and grab at all the spouts that shoot water. And both my mums and my SO's parent's houses are baby proofed and full of things that are allowed to touch!