I need to rant - 'Montessori' and hands on activities and a hyper toddler...
Lord help me, my toddler is insane. He bounces off the walls from dawn until dusk and does not sit still for a second. He's hyperactive and really, REALLY tall for his age (2 years old but wears 4/5y clothes and is almost in the next size). He refused to get dressed today and refused to go out anywhere whereas usually we are out for a walk or at the park. I haven't got the energy to fight him today so I've just accepted our fate and decided to attempt some of these lovely 'Montessori' activities that all the social media mums won't stop banging on about as something 'every' child should do.
The problem is, I've been having to discipline my son a stupid amount today because he won't actually do the activities but instead causes carnage with them. For example, using our 'Montessori' baking tools just resulted in confiscation because they were being launched around/at things, and the cake we attempted to make wound up on the floor. I then attempted garden 'mud kitchen' play and we had to come in because the poor dog just wound up getting mud thrown at him non stop. This happens EVERY SINGLE TIME I attempt an activity with my son and he's just really not cut out for this kind of stuff it seems.
Someone tell me this is normal?! Everyone I know with kids the same age shows me lovely pictures of their kids making cakes and doing stuff like that and they tell me their kids love it and do it calmly. I know my kid is hyperactive but please tell me there are other kids like this and I've just not met them yet?! Tell me social media and my friends are all just unintentionally gaslighting me, please!
Edit: Our dog isn't a great fan of the toddler, and he's not a dog that likes to play much or chase balls unfortunately. The toddler loves to grab the dog and so we have to supervise at all times to try and teach gentle hands because our toddler is so physical. Our toddler does also do a lot of physical activities usually, and we spend A LOT of time outside usually, but on days where he's refusing to go out and also is bored out of his mind, I guess I was just trying to find other activities out of the norm for him!
Update: Thank you so much fellow normal parents. I really appreciate your responses and am SO relieved to hear it's not just mine! I'm so used to him being the only kid at the Stay and Plays that doesn't sit still for a story or song that it's hard to get a gauge on realistic kids.
Also thanks to those of you who clarified 'Montessori' as I've not really done much research into it (I'm normally at work during the week so we don't usually stay in with him during the time we spend together so purely based it on the stuff I've seen online).