I'm going to lose my mind....

Put something in front of it for awhile so he can lose interest in doing it?? Might make him stop fully or go to a different area. And maybe put something in his room to occupy his mind. Not too over stimulating and not like a whole bin of stuff. Like those fidget toys. Since he is sitting there peeling. Maybe one of these or even having 3-4 of them in his room. He’ll mess with them more.

You could also put blue painters tape on the carpet. He can peel that up in the mornings. Won’t cause damage.

@Victoria, I've definitely thought about it, it sucks cause it's right by the door. He's got toys, cars, a carpet to run the cars on, and a climbing gym/slide. He chooses to mess with the wall instead of those options, so I wonder if he's just bored of the toys. I plan to switch them all out today, paint that section, and I might leave some construction paper in there for him to rip up instead. I'm hoping it'll feed that curiosity.

The most effective thing i have learned with my 19 month old is not to pay attention to the behavior. Often if they get a big response or reaction they repeat the behavior because it receives a lot of attention. Perhaps you could give it a try for a week and just redirect with a toy and avoid saying no etc.

😬 is he doing this in the middle of the night or just while he’s waiting for you to come get him? It kinda seems like you need to attend to him earlier in the morning. Can’t really be mad about what he does when you’re giving him the freedom to do it. If you can’t get to him earlier (mornings are hard 🫠) I’d take the wall paper off and paint a nice color instead then put a Melissa and Doug easel in the room. Let him play with the chalk side while he’s waiting with you. I say chalk because it’s very easy to clean off the walls if he goes wild. You can even leave some of the letter/number magnets (the safe ones where it’s the whole letter that’s a magnet). Masking tape can be a choking/suffocation hazard btw.

If it were my kids, I'd remove anything on the walls in their reach until the phase is over

My advice would be to maybe find a set up of how you could place strips of tape, maybe he’d enjoy peeling tape off a wood board more than he’d enjoy flaking paint off the walls ?

@Sarah 🎀 it's a little bit of both, honestly. He's only in there a max of 30 minutes before I come to get him, and it's not every day, as I try to get up before him. It's just the days he gets up before me. And I just painted the walls 2 weeks ago, so it's not wallpaper. He's finding imperfections in the walls to pick at then pulling whatever he can off. (This is a rental with poorly done walls before us that we're trying to fix) @Bonny I wish it were that easy! We live in a rental so I have to fix the walls regardless, it's an evil circle right now.

They also make like restickable stickers (a lot come in tiny travel books, but they make them in all types of ways) and maybe he could pick out a set of those that he likes and place & peel them off a board if tape strips don’t do the trick lolol

This could be wrong but I would talk to a doctor about it, kids that have adhd or anxiety or autism find a way to calm their nerves by something called stimming, it’s basically something that’s a habit that they do over and over again to help themselves calm down. For me personally I have adhd, anxiety, ptsd and a list of other problems. I got in the habit of yawning or brushing my hair when I felt like I was about to break down if I was in public. Another thing is definitely I have a favorite plushie that I like to pet because of the way it feels. I literally am the worst when it comes to finding shoes because I would rather go barefoot than have to wear slippers that feel weird because of the way the fabric feels. I would consider talking to your doctor about stimming and if you could find any books on how to find something similar that can comfort your child. I hope that helps

@Savannah oh shoot that’s barely anytime alone. Sorry for the assumptions. I’m trying to think of other ideas but nothing it coming to mind. My toddler used to tear her books up for the longest time if I left her for even 10 minutes so I took them away and now she takes care of them.

Looks like a cry for attention. Spend all day if you can with your child play with them, talk to them drop all house chores or whatever else you need to do, don't do anything at all except play with your child. I can guarentee you 100% that this will stop after the first couple of days of you spending all day with them. From then on you will need to take them with you from room to room not just leave them there to play. Baby proof your entire house and this issue will stop. Enjoy his company, full attention on him rather than him driving you nuts all the time. Sincere advice I know its hard at this stage but you have to get down to their level and be their friend then they won't feel the need to destroy things for attention.

This looks like he’s doing it out of boredom honestly. Try to keep him as occupied as possible and see what happens ?

I thought longer on the set up situation & tbh if you tape a sheet of parchment paper securely to the wall or a board or the back of the door in the room, you could use ANY stickers and let him place & peel them, if you can be confident that he’ll place them on the allotted space you make lol

@Katrina Hey, i appreciate this. I too have ADHD and grew up with a neurodivergent family so I do understand this completely. My son is also at a difficult communication phase which doesn't help, so we have been trying to find out what sensory experiences tend to work better for him. @Jen Pretty sure he's bored of his toys in his room, so those are being switched out today. @Lagringachilena I am a SAHM, so I already do spend all day with. Playing, doing activities, he follows me everywhere we go. He's a great helper when it comes to doing some house chores. But I am also 6 months pregnant and can't always keep up with him. My home is baby proofed as best as it can, as well. I appreciate the advice, but I'm not here to be his friend. I'm his mother and he has to learn boundaries that are safe for himself and everyone that's why I asked for any advice as this is a difficult stage in his development. Thank you everyone.

@Katrina going along with this, I would pick at the paint on my walls as a kid, I also started biting my nails as soon as I had teeth. I think it is a type of stimming. I have adhd, probably autism, and anxiety

I would try giving him something rubber to chew on maybe? If it's a textual thing. Or if it's and "not sure what to do with my hands" thing, maybe try some gloves?

It could also have to do with having control over his environment, and changing it.

I was into picking in particular. I still pick at my fingers. Idk if my parents tried to make me stop, but nothing has worked for me.

@Sarah definitely understand that! My husband and son both are nail/finger biters. We've been working together on reminding each other to "take your fingers outcha mouth" lol, slowly has gotten better. They do it without realizing it. Just like how I am with making random noises, never realize I do it unless my husband mentions it.

My kiddos likes to pick. She loves to tear the paper off of crayons and honestly I just let her go for it. Iv also made silicon picking toys. Basically you get a silicone mold, put in some fun things, we used beads of different sizes and plastic little toys then just pour in your liquid silicon and let it set. Both kids will just sit there and go to town. Heck both hubs and I enjoy it at times too. Just make sure the toys inside aren’t a choking hazard for your kiddo.

And I totally understand the paint peeling, it’s just so satisfying. Also peeling bark off of a tree is just *chefs kiss*

I saw where you said you’re switching out his toys. When our oldest was about 2/3 we got him some stem connected toys off Amazon. They had blue and yellow Stick like prices you could put in to balls that would hold them and wheels if you’d like to add them. He’s 5 now and still his favorite thing to play with. It’s open ended and it’s also easy for us to play along side with him. It was a life savor when I was pregnant and postpartum with our second!