Understanding Your Toddler

I could hear your mind screaming…”What do you want?  I don’t understand you!” You were a toddler decades back but that experience does not guarantee that you understand why your toddler is acting.  You need to develop a positive relationship with your toddler to better understand his moods and tantrums make him obey you, and mold his character.  Understanding your toddler better will help you develop your toddler’s positive personality traits.

 

It is during the toddler stage that a kid’s brain develops into an intelligent mind.  A toddler’s growing mobility and natural curiosity fuel extreme activity that you as a parent need to control to keep your child safe.  However, you need to balance your control with freedom to ensure your toddler’s brain development.  Toddlers would pick up anything and put it straight in their mouth; walk and run if they can; try to climb chairs and stairs.

 

Toddlers start to develop a sense of self as they start talking, walking and exploring their surroundings.  Notice how your two year old starts to separate from you.  While walking in the mall, your toddler will insist that you put him down and once you do, he will run away. It is quite a challenge to run after these little explorers.

 

As a toddler develops his speech, he may sometimes say negative words like “No! Mine! Go Away! I don’t like you”.  Don’t worry, your baby is not turning into a bad child but is merely expressing his complex feelings into blunt expressions.  Your toddler has limited vocabulary and speech abilities; thus, he would blurt out easy and short words which may sometimes sound irritating. It is at this stage that your toddler will pick-up easy to say words from anyone so be careful to surround your kid with only positive people.  Make a conscious effort to review even the cartoon shows that he watches.  Make it a point that your relationship with your toddler is such that he is aware that you understand him and that your instructions are for his benefit.

 

Understanding your toddler requires a change of mind.  You need to realize that your toddler is smarter and better able to understand than you choose to think. Like any human beings, toddlers have inherent emotions – anger, fear, shame, happiness, excitement – expressed in sometimes not so pleasant ways.

 

Your relationship with your toddler will better enable you to understand your toddler and interpret your toddler’s sometimes awkward expressions of his emotions.  Your relationship with your child can help your toddler expresses his feelings and lay the foundation to a happy personality.  Your relationship with your toddler will cause you to understand him and help him develop into a socially adept person and develop a personality that will allow for a productive life.