Tuesday, March 1, 2011

The One About Toddlers...

The more children you have the less you sweat the small stuff. I realized this the other day after KT threw a MASSIVE tantrum in which I merely picked her up, placed her on the bottom step and said "Sit there until you are done." She screamed a minute longer, got up, said "All done." and went on w/ her day as if minutes before she wasn't screaming over not being allowed to play w/ the markers.

With my first child I would have been mortified had he thrown a fit like that. I would have spanked his tiny little bottom and would have felt that he was headed for a life of fighting and manipulating to get his way. I've learned A LOT since then. Toddlers just feel everything with every part of their being. They feel BIG feelings. They don't need the feelings beaten out of them w/ a spanking. Time outs aren't even necessary if you can get them to calm down w/ a simple hug and comfort. (which is not the case for most of my toddlers... they need some space to cool down) They just need to learn how to calm themselves down a bit and use those feelings in a good way. That comes w/ maturity and time... as I've discovered with all of my children who have matured passed toddler-hood.

1 comment:

Valencia Jones-Edwards said...

Well done mommy. I have five and I too had to learn the hard way not to burn myself out. Then you can't effectively parent anyone then...lol