As humans, our behavior is emotionally or logically driven. However, this is different with young toddlers. They don’t have the ability to use logic yet and would act wholly depending on their emotions. Therefore, when confronted with strong emotions like anger, frustration or disappointment, they will often express themselves by crying, screaming or stomping as such feelings are hard for young kids to handle properly. Every normal child should have temper tantrums during the period of age 1 to 3 and it is part of the child’s mental development. This period is also famously known as the terrible twos!
It is important for parents to understand their child’s needs and have a strong rapport with them. Having a strong rapport is meant to have an emotional connection with your child. This will help in influencing your child’s behavior to be better and to avoid speaking to them in the wrong way which will make them rebel and do the direct opposite of what you wanted.
Watch out on negative words you might use while speaking to your child. For instance, many parents have a habit of using the word “NO” and most toddlers would usually get used to the effect of the word after a while causing them to totally turn their back on you and your instructions. Language is very important and a powerful tool to be used. Try to speak to your child with more positive words than negative ones so that the situation will be easier to handle.
Some tips to note during handling your child’s “terrible twos” period would be to provide them with limited choices only as this would at make them calm down and get them to start thinking about relevance. For instance, if your child doesn’t want to move, you can give them the choice to go on their own or be carried. In such situations, never give in to them as they will take advantage the next time and get in your way resulting in them not listening to you. Instead, stay in control by trying to understand how and what they might be feeling and try not to mix your emotions in the situation. One solution is to enforce reasonable punishments such as taking away their toys for a period of time. Additionally, keep your children busy with regular routines as this will help them to feel protected and having something to do i.e. keep them busy instead of you facing a behavioral time bomb walking around (your child with no regular routines).
By all means, as parents, always lead by example as children observe and mimic people around them. Always respond positively and remember to dish out rewards and compliments for good behaviors while encouraging independence on their behalf by letting them to do their own things without you observing and have them learn from their mistakes.
