How to Keep Toddlers from Fighting

When there are two toddlers fighting over a toy, things can get a bit dicey. You want to make sure that your child isn’t the aggressor, while at the same time ensuring that your child isn’t getting abused by the other child. The secret to sorting it out is to determine aggressiveness versus assertiveness. With aggression, the toddler is infringing on someone else’s territory. The other child may have been happily playing with the toy when your child comes out of nowhere, sees that it looks interesting and attempts to snatch it away for himself. With assertiveness, your child may … Continue reading →

Dealing with a Screaming Toddler

Sometimes it seems that there is nothing worse than a screaming toddler, unless it is a screaming toddler in public. Here are some tips on how to deal with this situation in a loving manner and regain control of the situation. The first piece of advice that I have is that if you are out in public when your toddler starts screaming, is to ignore everyone else around you. You will get many many looks, especially if you are in a crowded store or restaurant. Forget the stares, the sympathetic smiles and even the comments of outrage. Parents of young … Continue reading →

Why Your Toddler Hits

Whether your toddler regularly hits you or other children, the behavior can be quiet disconcerting. You may feel as though other parents see your child as a problem child. But the reality is that hitting is not an unusual behavior for many toddlers. And sometimes the usual discipline methods, such as time outs may not seem to work. When a toddler hits, it is important to be consistent about the behavior not being acceptable. At the same time, it can be helpful when you understand some of the motivation behind the hitting behavior. He may be curious about other people … Continue reading →

Teach Your Child to Be Polite

If a case of the demanding toddler or preschooler has hit your house you just may want to teach your little one some manners. While some people argue that we should just let kids be kids, I think it is important for children, even young children, to learn some basics of how to politely exist in society. I am not talking about toddler who know how to set a table, of course, but saying “please” and “thank you” and having respect for other people is certainly not out of reach. Here are some basics of being polite and how you … Continue reading →

Using Compromise with a Toddler 2

Yesterday in Using Compromise with a Toddler, I talked about how compromise can be a great form of discipline with your child. I talked about one type of compromise and gave a specific example that happened to occur in our household earlier this week. Now, let’s talk a little more about the art of compromise. Compromise is so important not only to help you avoid tantrums and maintain a peaceful relationship with your toddler, but it also can be a learning tool. Your toddler will learn from a very early age how important the skill of compromise is in life. … Continue reading →

Using Compromise with a Toddler

There is a reason that they call it the terrible twos. Two-year-olds tend to want to assert their own independence and opinions, even if they don’t quite make sense to us. A limited vocabulary also adds to their frustration because they can’t always communicate what they want and may have trouble being understood. While you may be surprised that this discipline technique works (notice that discipline means guidance; it does not mean punishment), compromise can be a very effective of dealing with some of the issues that we face with the terrible twos. It gives the child a sense of … Continue reading →

Supernanny Methods Don’t Work for Better Behaved Toddlers

I have blogged a few times on my own experiences with strong willed toddlers and my take on disciplining young children. I could essentially sum up my view in three words: consistency, clarity of expectations and patience. I feel that often times parents own discipline issues stem from their lack of clearly communicating the expectations and then consistently reinforcing the expectations with tangible consequence that, preferably, fit the crime. And of course we all need to be patient–we are after all dealing with toddlers whose tendencies are to test and try boundaries. This is one reason I’m not a fan … Continue reading →