How do you deal with the terrible two's? Or one's or three's? My 2 year old throws little meltdowns lately. We usually put him in a minute time-out and then we count to 5 and then hug and talk, etc. But...I'm wondering is there any way to see less of these meltdowns (besides more sleep, etc). Some days there are a lot of tantrums going on and usually over something so small as telling him to eat his food at the table or not to mess with the air unit. Can these be prevented; or is this toddlers? :)
Someone please bless us with their wisdom! My 2 year old has recently started acting up really bad at daycare. She gave another girl a bloody nose last week during a tantrum and is having hitting and swearing issues. She is also going around and pushing the crusing/crawling babies down. So far she isn't hitting sister, but I am just not sure what to do.
My mom was here this weekend and Lizzie said 'damnit' and my mom slapped her across the face. It seemed effective, but I would never do that! I was not there at the time btw, or we would have had words.
I usually do a 3 min. timeout for my 2 1/2 year old if he is acting out which works maybe half the time. If that doesn't work then i tell him that i don't want to hear any whining ( most of his tantrums involve whining) and if he continues then he has to go take a nap...the nap threat usually works well lol. That or sometimes i will get one of his books out and start asking him questions about it and once in awhile the distraction helps. I really hope this stuff passes soon, but DH just deployed so DS has been going into super tantrum mode. OH and for the cursing, DS will say a bad word once in a while and i use my best tough voice and mom look(i'm really not tough at all, everyone just laughs when i do it lol) and just say excuse me? and ask if he said a bad word and then it is off to the corner. I also give him other words that he can say...like i will let him say darn instead but he has a limit on that too.
While this is probably something you've already thought about, give your child as much control over their lives as you can. However, limit the choices you do give. For example... don't just give them a snack you choose, offer choices, but limit it to two or three things so they're not overwhelmed. Often misbehavior is an attempt to feel like they have a say in their lives, but at the little munchkin age, can also be a way of figuring out how far they can push things and testing reactions. Because of that, you HAVE to be consistant. The same thing MUST happen every single time.
Also, give reasons. You are trying to teach WHY these things are not okay so your child will avoid them logically. You do NOT want to teach that these things are just not okay to do in front of Mommy or Daddy.
I'll write more later, I gotta go get my 5 year old from school.
Question of the Day 11/12/10
- chrissy12507
on Nov. 24, 2009 at 2:32 PM