NONONONONO!

Ok. I've had just about enough of this crap. How in the name of all that's good and holy am I supposed to get my kid to stop doing the things that she shouldn't do? Like eating staples! And slamming the doors on my antique radio cabinet! And yanking the knives out of the dishwasher! And chewing on my disgusting rubber flip-flops! How how how do I make her stop doing this?

We're childproofing just about everything that can be childproofed, but I have quite a few very valuable old antiques that I refuse to deface, so she's just going to have to learn to stop breaking them. We've cleared everything off all the tables, but she gets into it anyway. There is nothing on the floor of our house anymore (except for those damn flip-flops). And yet she gets into Everything! Constantly!

I'm tired of gently telling her "no" and then explaining why she can't do what she's doing. I'm tired of distracting her with other, Bear-friendly toys. I'm tired of taking things away from her and pulling her off of things.

I don't want to become one of those moms who smacks their kid's hand away from everything - I know that's not the best way to teach them not to do things. But so help me, if I have to spend many more days following her around the house and keeping her out of things she shouldn't be in, I'm going to turn into Judy Garland or Joan Crawford or something.

How do the stay-at-home-moms do this every day? Those ladies have my eternal admiration. I would go round the twist if I had to do this for much longer.