During the toddler years, your child will grow by leaps and bounds, learning new skills like talking, putting on and taking off his clothes, and the biggie—toilet training! Toddlers struggle to master problem-solving skills. They're also eager to do things independently without help from Mom and Dad. Combine all that, and you've got a challenging period in child development for any parent to navigate!
The article, Toddlers and Challenging Behavior: Why They Do It and How to Respond, sums it up realistically: "Toddlers do not understand logic and still have a hard time with waiting and self-control. In a nutshell: Two-year-old's want what they want when they want it."
Keeping your toddler's developmental stage in mind makes it easier to see things from her point of view. She wants to break away and do things herself. She needs opportunities to explore, express, and grow into her own little person. But that doesn't mean she won't need your guidance!
Here are three examples of everyday toddler challenges and the fix on how to turn them around so your toddler can still come into his own while learning to follow rules.
Challenge #1: Hitting another child
After five years of infertility, one of the experiences I longed for after I finally became a mom was to hang out with mommy pals and enjoy the quintessential playdate. During those long years of waiting to get pregnant, I daydreamed of hosting a weekly gathering where I'd serve creamy flavored coffees and homemade muffins while our little darlings would play nicely with age-appropriate developmental toys. My pipe dream was perfect until our first playdate finally happened, only to have my new mom friends decline my fattening muffins as we watched my two-year-old punch one of our guests because she wouldn't share her dollhouse.
Our first playdate finally happened, and my new mom friends and I watched my two-year-old punch one of our guests because she wouldn't share her dollhouse.
My husband and I were soft-spoken, gentle beings (mostly) who tried to be thoughtful role models. When we saw our daughter haul off and hit innocent playdates for no apparent reason, we were mortified and concerned. Thankfully, we learned this was a common occurrence in the world of toddlerhood.
In Teaching Toddlers Not to Hit, Catricia Tilford, MD, a board-certified pediatrician, explained that toddlers don't have much control over their emotional impulses and are still developing language skills. "Also, toddlers are egocentric,"...
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