Parenting is surely one of the toughest jobs on earth. Parenting means a lot of things including disciplining your toddler. It is kind of a test that never ends between you and your child. How do you go about disciplining your toddler? For most of the parents out there, it means punishing or hitting your child. That is something we don’t want. Disciplining your child means keeping some strategies in mind top keep your toddler from getting involved in behavior that is inappropriate, aggressive and dangerous. It is about knowing how to react when your toddler breaks the rules you have set for him.
Here are seven tactics that you can use to stop aggressive, dangerous and inappropriate behavior:
1. Don’t let emotions take over you
Keeping your calm is the toughest thing to do when your toddler slaps your 2 month old baby or he refuses to eat food continuously. The first impulse is to yell but that will only confuse your child about the message you are trying to give. If your toddler notices negative emotions in you, he will brush off anything you want him to listen to. Try your best to keep the volume of your voice low as angry reaction only becomes a source of entertainment for your toddler. Just have some eye contact with your child and take a serious and strict tone when speaking to him. Just don’t let negative emotions take the best of you especially anger.
2. Remain consistent in your reactions
It is not for certain after how many scolds or events will your child actually stop misbehaving. What is for sure is the fact that if you react in the same manner every time, he will definitely learn his lesson at least after five or six times. It is believed that children of age 2 and 3 are making quiet an effort to understand what kind of behavior instills what kind of reaction in people surrounding them. Make sure you are not changing your reaction to a certain situation every time. That will only puzzle your child even more about the message that you are trying to convey. Children who are 2 or 3 years old really know how to break your resolve by acting all cute. Remain stern when disciplining your child.
3. Time out therapy
So you have tried everything to stop him from his offensive behavior and nothing seems to work? It is time to use time out strategy. If your child is hitting his sibling or doing some other offensive behavior, wear a serious look on your face and warn him before doing a time out. Even if that doesn’t work, simply take him to quiet spot you have allocated for doing the time-outs. Let him stay there for three to five minutes. After that ask him to say sorry and when he does, show some love to him so he know you are not angry anymore. Toddlers love sticking to their toys, parents and siblings. A little separation is a good enough threat to discipline them.
4. Keep your toddler away from his triggers
You probably know what makes your child do a variety of things he does. Just take those triggering things away rather than deal with his bad behavior. It is better to keep the milk out of reach than cry over spilt milk. If he loves dragging garbage can from the kitchen and around your house, just change the place of the garbage can and make it inaccessible for him. If he writes with color pencils on the wall, just keep it color pencils in a place his tiny hands can’t reach. If your toddler likes poking his sibling with a sword play toy, just keep it away. On the other hand, you need to make sure that your toddler took enough sleep and ate well. Lack of sleep and empty stomach also makes them react badly.
5. Don’t just say ‘no’ all the time
If you just keep saying no to your child all the time, he will be confused about where to actually listen to you. Think about the misbehaviors that come under the red zone and really need attention and leave out the little ones for now. Let your child get the signal that which misbehaviors need to be corrected. Petty things like being stubborn on wearing a certain dress or messing up the room will outgrow but not other more serious things like having a habit of hitting a younger sibling. So focus on those first.
6. Remain positive
It is hard to stay positive at times if your toddler is acting really stubborn at times. You probably want to cry out of frustration. Don’t talk about the behavior of your child in front of him. These little toddlers may seem like they don’t understand anything but they sense many everything around them. If you feel that he is getting on your nerves and you cannot take it anymore, just talk to your partner or friend about it for advice. Don’t let the negativity take you down.
