Boredom

This bookshelf had three shelves of books. Note that the shelves are also missing.

With dreary weather comes the inevitable boredom for kids. If it is nasty outside and there is no way else to expel the infinite amounts of energy, kids will resort to any way necessary to alleviate the pain of boredom. My children just happen to utilize their destructo-skills. They find any and every way to cause massive chaos in the house. I believe that they are trying to send me a message. The message being: "I'm bored mom. And if you don't find something for me to do then you have only yourself to blame for the mass destruction I will cause." And destroy, they do. When they are in trouble, the timeout corner has apparently become a vent for their frustration. When I'm not looking, they peel the paint off of our lovely wood paneling walls and rip the trim off of the corners. When they are just mindlessly looking outside our large picture window in the living room, they feel compelled to shred tiny bits of the energy saver coating from the glass. And when they have utilized all other forms of destruction they settle for the 'daily mess'. This consists of taking every toy and book and dumping them on the ground for no other purpose but to cause a mess. I am teaching them to clean up but it is a slow learning process. But after all of this, I have come to the conclusion that when you sell or buy a house, there should be a section stating that toddlers were raised there. It would explain away about 3/4 of the things that need to be replaced.