Teaching Your Spirited Toddler to Obey

One of the simplest ways to handle a tough toddler is to keep your head, and be patient.   Ha ha!  This is not so easy, say parents everywhere.  It is hard to contain your frustration, but toddlers are prone to mirroring back your emotions.  They feed off your energy, so whether it is a positive or negative energy can have a definite affect on the child and how he or she responds to you.

Dealing with a difficult toddler is not as easy as it might be to save money at the office.   Finding the best business coupon is easy, by doing a few Internet searches and reading some reviews.   Likewise, business software coupons are within your grasp with just a bit of Internet savvy.   You probably feel comfortable with these steps because you’re familiar with them; it’s nothing new or difficult.  Dealing with your toddler isn’t much different:  follow some simple steps.

A great place to start is teaching ahead of time your desired behavior.  If you are trying to teach your child to get into the car seat without fighting you, consider “practicing” getting into the car seat in the house.   Try bringing the car seat in, or if that isn’t convenient, have fun making a pretend car seat.  Turn it into a game.  Make it a delightful game.  When you teach your desired response ahead of time, it prepares the toddler mind to obey when you actually need your child to perform.   Give praise liberally, making the practice sessions fun.

Another thing to try is to simply describe to your toddler a behavior you want from him or her, and then describe the corresponding reward or consequence.  Perhaps you give a small piece of candy (just one!) each time the child sits on the potty chair.  You need not consider this bribery, since you have clearly established the expectation ahead of time, and you are not offering the candy to get a child to stop doing something negative.  It is setting up a positive consequence for a positive behavior you wish to encourage.   You could also employ a time out if the child does not perform the behavior you wish to encourage.   In short and concise statements describe the desired response, and encourage this response before a release from time out.

These are just a few tips you can use to help get a better handle on your misbehaving toddler.

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