Vent

Sometimes you just have to let a kid do what they want to do.

There is a heating vent in front of the patio door.  It's visible - the white vent does not blend in well with the wood floor, and being in front of the window is one of Ian's favorite places to be, so it is often noticed.  Ian is absolutely fascinated with it.  We try covering it with the end of the curtain's, we moved the rocking chair over it.  Nothing was curving his interest.

The vent is easily lifted out, and Ian discovered he could do that very quickly.  I am constantly putting it back in so that toys do not fall down the vent.

We tried the distraction technique.  When he took the vent cover off we would move him across the room and give him something else to do, but he would make his way back to the vent and keep playing with it.

We tried the "no" technique, but I prefer to keep "no" to a minimum and only use it when it's absolutely needed - like in a danger situation.  Plus, a 9 month old does not understand why he cannot explore there, and I do not want to hinder his desire to explore.

So what did I do?

I let him play with the vent.

He sat there with his foot in the vent for quite a while.  He then got bored and moved on to something else... He has not visited the vent since!