This has made me wonder if babies don’t have some type of thing where they think they are the only ones. I mean obviously they learn there are others out there, but NOT others in your home. Any picture of a younger child is a picture of them, any picture of a sibling that doesn’t look like they do now is not them. Could this be because they haven’t seen a sibling’s looks change? Possibly. Even if you have a small chronicalogical (sp) album of just the baby and let him/her flip through it they will not believe.

The above picture is Little A looking at SoccerBoy’s picture album. He got really into it and took over an hour looking at the pictures.

Post from: Babylune

IMG: sxc.hu

Am I right? There are many solutions to this age old problem, but the most common one and something not many parents will want to hear is patience.

Tips for Getting Toddler to Bed:

-  Don’t make it a big issue- If your child toddles into your room and does the whole sad eye look don’t fall for it and don’t go, “Ooh he/she wants to sleep with us.” Or start screaming, “Get in bed, go back to your room.” I am not kidding, screaming at a child to go to their room/bed will only make them scared. Why suddenly is mommy/daddy kicking me out? Is something wrong, should I be afraid? These will only put terror in a child, sure they’ll go to sleep in their room but they’ll be scared and it’ll probably persist more.

-  Don’t give in.  Many parents will feel a bit of guilt over sending their child into a new room/bed. Don’t give in, no matter how many tears fall or are begged walk them back to their room. You may even want to lay them down and talk/sing/read a book to them.

-  Make bedtime a ritual- Children/toddlers want to feel safe and secure, one way to do this is make it a ritual. Dinner, play, bath, get dressed for bed, read a book in bed. They will slowly catch on and begin falling asleep very easily.

- No drinks after bed-  Many children/toddler beg for one more drink before bed, they even go well past bedtime just so they can get out. This sometimes will only make children get the urge to pee which means once again getting out of bed and in the middle of the night they get scared of the dark and run to the room that feels familiar. Allowing them to have a sip before bed may be just the perfect solution.

Do you have any tips/remedies that may help?

Post from: Babylune

IMG: Sxc.hu

How did you determine what to use with your toddler? What will you use with your toddler? Below are a list of some parenting techniques:

Time Out- I will not lie, while this tactic works for some it does not work for all. Yes, I do know that SuperNanny would yell at me for saying this but it is true. Try it first to see if it will work and like SuperNanny always said, make sure you get to their level, explain what you are doing calmly and stick with it.

Do know that your child may stand up instead of sit down during a time out, just to provoke you. They may walk out of the time out or purposely move to another location to do the time out. They are testing you just like you are testing them.

Corner- Some people will stick a chair in the corner of a room and have their child stay there for a desired amount of time. Normally two minutes, since they are only two they won’t know the difference in time. No matter what it’ll feel like forever to them. Set a timer up and show them that when it dings they can get up, but remember to explain why they are there.

Once again, this doesn’t always work. A child can be amused by the smallest things, as a child I remember making shapes out of the way the paint had formed on the wall. Other children tend to spit at the wall, I’m unsure why but I remember a child that my neighbor babysat use to do this.

No- Firmly tell the child no, this is normally the first resort but it tends to be forgotten as we’ve instructed our children since birth not to do certain things. Make sure your son or daughter knows that “No” means no.

What are a few other discipline methods you can think of for a toddler?

Post from: Babylune

IMG: Elizabeth Ferree

see in the picture it was still dark but we had to do some shopping before leaving town, which meant an EARLY breakfast. For some reason they had the cooler on and people were inside wearing jackets, course since it is summer we don’t have those in the car. So we had to suck it up, the girls curled into me for body heat as they said and the hubby went to the car.

This picture was taken after the hubby and SoccerBoy brought in two blankets and two sweaters for the girls. Everyone was happy and as you can see Little A was definitely warm. It began storming right after this (downpour type) so we were lucky to have brought these inside. Gotta love how you can have somewhat clear skies and suddenly get a downpour. As for what we ate, the young ones all had the silver 5 and one funny face, I had the new Hawaiin pancakes with cream cheese in it.

Post from: Babylune

But it hit me today on how much he’s learned and how much he does by experimenting. We’ve been sitting in our playroom for over an hour now and he’s having a ball. Yes, he has a play area upstairs but not as many toys are up there. Down in this room it is wall to wall in kids items, you’ve got board books, an animal bag, baby blankets, soft toys, blocks, stuffed animals and more in one room. There is a smaller room off to the side that has the “older toys” in it, this way the older siblings can play in there without Little A trying to eat everything.

Today though, I noticed that he now picks and chooses. He was going through the toy box of dolls and stuffed animals and tossing them all, but he stuck with two that I think he really likes, a baby doll (the newborn types with no hair that normally come with a pacifier) and a small stuffed bear with a red shirt. Both of these he loved on. I thought how cute, I would’ve taken a picture but he stops every time he sees the camera. I wanted to experiment and tried giving him a cabbage patch with hair, he does not like the dolls with hair.

We’ve got a small child’s rocking chair in the room, he’s figured out how to hold on to the bars on the back of the chair to pull himself into it. Yep, already and at that point he’ll grin and laugh. He knows momma will jump from what she’s doing to be beside him, course he thinks it is to push him. We all know momma is worried he’ll fall out. I never showed him how to get into this chair, before today I would just sit him in it and rock it.

He loves emptying out all the toy boxes, course I think he really likes making messes for momma to clean up. What do you think? Does your child tend to dump out the boxes or are they ones that try keeping everything clean and tidy? I’ve had both types.

So, the next time you have a moment watch your child and see what items he/she picks up and plays with. Or just watch them do something and think whether or not you taught them that or if he/she picked it up themselves. While I know children are smart and teach themselves by doing, it is always neat to sit back and watch. Well my little adventurer has decided it is time to eat so I better sign off.

Post from: Babylune

For the answer

A Playpen Tent. I guess that’s what you’d call it, or a sleeping bag playpen. Believe it or not, he discovered the floor of his playpen moves and decided to check it out. He learned this yesterday, whenever I attempt to put him in it today he lifts up the flat piece, slides inside and makes himself at home. He even has a few toys and snacks hidden under the mat now. To view more children at play join us over at the All About Parenting Blog Carnival where the kids are playing.

Post from: Babylune