I have one of the most precious two year old little boys. Having him really did flip my world upside down and I have LOVED every day of his life.
I have not, on the other hand, loved every minute of his life. We are NO stranger to the terrible twos!
Sometimes.
He’s.
NAUGHTY!!
Sometimes he pushes me to the limit and at times, I just don’t get him. I have learned, through our experiences, how to handle him, but every day, I’m left second guessing my decisions. Should I just let “that” go? Should I have made a bigger deal about “that?”
I really think discipline is such a tough issue. It’s a very personal decision and the way you discipline your children might not work well for your friend and her children. However, I enjoy talking about discipline tactics from my friends because there just might be a tip I haven’t heard of.
One of the most frequent discipline tactics you hear is “Time Out.” It’s the main tactic used at our house, too.
Yesterday, I gave my little guy, Langston, a corny dog on a stick to eat at the kitchen table. When he was finished, he got down from his chair and walked over to give me the leftover stick. When I told him he needed to throw the stick in the trash, he got mad and threw the stick on the floor.
I.
WAS.
FURIOUS.
While I was envisioning grabbing him and forcing him to pick up the stick, I knew it needed to be his doing, not mine. I immediately said, “We don’t throw our food on the floor. You need to pick that up.” After telling me “no” several times I told him he was going to go to Time Out. He wasn’t happy about it but after counting to three and the stick was still on the ground, I carried him to his room for time out.
After three minutes, I went back in his room to get him. He walked with me back to the stick and when I asked him to pick it up, he did. However, when I asked him to go with me to throw it away, he wouldn’t budge. At this point, I knew we were smack dab in the middle of a power struggle and I was determined to win! 🙂 After a few requests to throw it away, he threw the stick back on the ground and we went BACK to time out.
I guess the second time out was just what he needed. After three minutes, he walked right out of his room, picked up the stick, and carried it to the trash can.
We lived happily ever after.
Time our works for us most of the time, but I’d love to hear from you!
What discipline tips work for your little one? I’m always looking for new ideas!
this is the number one issue in our house right now. Weston is extremely defiant. We had 2 timeouts before 8:20 this morning! While I do believe in spankings, I believe he still is too young (22 mos) to really ‘get’ that right now. When I do swat his hand or leg he typically laughs but take away his freedom by putting him in the timeout spot and it gets his attention. Whatever discipline we do we always tell him we love him afterwards, we ask him to blow kisses to whomever he has offended and tell that person he is sorry then we tell him we forgive him. He won’t understand that now but we feel by starting now and making it our routine will be key for future offendings.
Great tips, Steph! I hadn’t thought about throwing in the “we forgive you” part. I know that will help later on and starting now is a great idea!
Pur kids are 10, 7, 3, and 18 months. One had ADD Innatentive type, one ADHD with a capital H, the youngest two are foster kids, and the very youngest is definitely a sensory seeker and never stops moving. So we have to use a wide range of discipline strategies! We just started time puts with the 19 month old last month and they work well to stop a behavior. His time out takes place in any chair in the same room with us. The three year old wants to be at our sides at all times, so three minutes in her room when she is being overtly disobedient or disrespectful,, or throwing a loud tantrum, works well to give her a chance to gather herself and be ready to be with people again. The oldest two are sent to their Roma when they need time to just cool off and calm themselves – there is toouch fun stuff in there for it to be a true punishment – it’s just time away to regroup, and then we can talk through what happened once their calm and can hear us again.
Yes, Langston hates to be away from all of the activity, too! Making him sit in his room for a few minutes definitely gets his attention…..usually. 🙂
Great advice, Rebecca!
Check out the book “1,2,3 Magic”, it’s a great discipline system for time outs and makes so much sense! It’s for ages 2-12
http://www.amazon.com/1-2-3-Magic-Effective-Discipline-Children/dp/149262988X