subject: Toddler Discipline - A Few Questions You Should Ask Yourself [print this page] Every parent knows exactly what it's like to have your once seemingly angelic child suddenly turn into some kind of uncontrollable monster. Your once effective toddler discipline methods seem no longer to work. Have you asked your self why?
Do you think there could be something physically effecting your child? Could they be hungry, tired, or maybe hyperactive? Children's bodies work different to adults. They do not have the same stamina. If children aren't given the right meals at the right times this can affect them. If they don't get the proper sleep at the right times this will also obviously affect them. Some children will just shut down or fall asleep but some children will just act up. Also children haven't experienced much of what life can throw at us yet and a day that has a lot of emotion can really overwhelm them.
Is there something else happening in their lives that may be affecting them? Or maybe something is happening in your life that could be causing them stress. As we should be aware, children are creatures of habit. They may enjoy new things but they also really want routine. Some children will need more time to get used to a routine and may really need the routine of your discipline to make them feel secure.
Has your child grown not just physically but mentally into another stage of their development? By this I mean, has your usual methods of discipline become less effective, or not effective at all any more? If this is so then maybe you need a new method of discipline, or maybe you just need to use the same methods but use them with a different approach or a slight modification. For example, if you use a time-out method, maybe you should make the time-out longer or build in other penalties to this form of discipline. As your child grows your toddler discipline strategies will need to grow also.
Once you have asked yourself these questions then maybe you can sit your child down with you and try to talk things through. Try asking your child why they misbehave. It maybe more difficult to talk to younger children in this way but you may just get some fascinating insights into your child's mind.
