My son talks ALOT! He can tell you his abc's, count to 19, and hes not yet 2. He can also tell you "No, Get down, Don't touch, and Because I said so..." Yeesh, that last one got to me. When I was a kid I hated being told "because I said so" I needed to know why. I wasn't being smart. I just wanted to know why. So, I started listening to the interactions I had with my son and they sounded like this: "No, No, No, Get down, Don't put that in your mouth, Don't drag the cat by the tail, Gentle, No, No, No, Stop that, Give mommy, Let's sing a song, Good job, Can you count with Mommy?, Great job, No, No, No, I love you."
What happened? I was going to be the coolest Mom on the planet. In reality toddlers are the most awesome, surprising, destructive, quick little buggers you will ever meet. I needed a game plan. Here are the top 3 things in my arsenal.
3. Love-Sometimes a hug, kiss, or tickle can work better than yelling. it's the whole thing about catching flies with honey. You have to think of toddlers as little people who have their own thoughts, and don't want to be forced to do anything anymore than you do. There is a balance. I'm not saying let them do whatever and be unsafe. Just that sometimes you have to be a little more cunning.
2. Distraction-Sometimes you have to play a little dirty to keep your sanity. When my son throws a fit I find the loudest toy near me and play with it. I just ignore him and have a good time playing with his toys. You know what, he forgets whatever he was crying about and joins me.
1. Redirection- At first I thought of redirection as a daycare workers Jedi mind trick. But, it actually works! One day I got tired of telling my son to get down off the coffee table and simply said " Feet on the floor." He did it immediately. I was so shocked I tried it with other things and it worked with those things also. It doesn't work all the time, but enough to make me feel like I don't have to be the No Monster all the time.
