A 2 Year Old

Hi D.,

I don't know if this is the right thing to do but I stick my daughter in her crib and let her think about the way she is acting. She doesn't like it but that's too bad. I am the boss and so are you. Not kids! Also, there are lots of great ideas if you watch Super Nanny. I don't think she suggests sticking the kids in the crib but it works for us.

Show him who is boss!

2 yr olds are a creature all in class by themselves.. consistancy, follow thru and time outs. No matter how bad you feel, follow thru.. I've left many places with a screaming child in my arms just to get a point across to my kid.. if you threaten something , do it. Time outs - 1 minute per year. and follow thru on that .. if you get in their face, give a warning the first time, then the second time, just give the time out. stay calm though. they love to get a rise out of you. Watch Supernanny too, her methods do work for some kids and it may help you find what's right for you .

Hi there,
This will sound a lot like the previous post b/c I second what she said.
Putting my son in his crib until he calmed down always worked for me. Sometimes he fell asleep b/c he had worn himself out, which gave me a little while of peace and quiet. Now I put him in his room unitl he is ready to behave. Luckily, at almost 4, the offenses are fewer and farther between, and it takes him much less time to calm down and decide to behave.

I had to try to remain emotionless (which was VERY hard) and most of all, if you warn him once, twice at the most, and he continues to test, you must follow through. They are trying to see how far they can get. i have had to drag him out of restaurants kicking and screaming, but it's the only way they learn that bad behavior won't be tolerated.

It might be rough going for a while, but it'll get better. My son used to bang his head on the walls, floor, crib, everywhere, and it frightened me half to death. but the doc. said he'd figure out that he was only hurting himself and grow out of it, and he did! Stay strong now so that in the future you can live in peace with your child. If you don't teach him good behavior now, you'll have to deal with it forever.

Goodluck!

Hi D.,
It sounds like your little man is testing his boundries! I went thru the same thing when my son was his age. I would take away whatever it was that he was throwing and put him in his crib or his room and let him know that I wasn't going to put up with that behavoir. Be firm and consistent. If you let him feel like he has the upper hand or that he can get away with it, it'll only get worse. Bed time can be tough if you stick with it he'll realized that he's not going to win and give in. It can take a while but don't give in. I agree with the others when they said to watch Super Nanny, she has a slew of ideas when it comes to behavior like this. I know it can be tough being a single parent but don't give up, it'll get better!!

Hi D.!

This might sound strange but, have you ever seen that show "Super Nanny"? You should watch it. She gives A LOT of great tips. One of the first ones is to have a schedule, to set up and follow through on discipline (and she shows you how) and also how to set up a reward system.

My daughter's father has a son who used to live with us when he was 5 (we're not together anymore). He was an unbelievable hellion. I did a lot of research in books and talked to child counselors and the two things that EVERYONE agreed on is that kids need structure and parents HAVE to follow through, or everything they try to do will fall through and backfire.

Hope this helps!

Wow, D.. Its been SO long since any of my kids were that young. Let's see if I can remember some of it (lol). For starters, 2 yo is a difficult time w/children. They seem to have it in their head that they're running the show - that they're the boss, not the parent(s). And they will push it to the limit.
For the throwing things, I used to take what daughter & my eldest would throw at me and put them in a box on the highest shelf in my closet (usually stuffed animals & toys). It took them a little while, but they both noticed one day that there was nothing to throw. When that day came, they had to come up w/something else.
Punishment for my kids (at the 2 yo range) disrespecting me was a whole other animal. I had actually held on to my first-born's crib and used that as his punishment (he was in a 'big boy bed' at that age). I kept it in his room, w/the mattress at its lowest setting, so if he wanted to 'escape,' he would have to work for it. Disciplining a 2 yo is difficult - I'm not going to lie to you. You can also get some ideas from the doctors and nurses at your pediatrician's office - find out what they do (or have done) that was successful (and what wasn't).
Bedtime was not so bad, I discovered, when I let them just run around like mad men. They'd get their excess energy out, and they would go to bed when it was time. It took me many weeks to figure out when the right time was (before bedtime) for me to have them run around like mad men, but it did work.
As my children got older, I got a LOT of advice from the nurses and the doctors at my pediatrician's office. They're all parents, so they know what its like both professionally and personally. So, if all else fails, you can go to pediatrician's office for advice & support on disciplining your son.

You definatley aren't alone in this struggle. My son will be 3 in September. He absolutely LOVES to give me a hard time no matter if it's time for bed, snacktime, or anyother time in between. It doesn't mean that they aren't great kids, they just know what buttons to push, and they do it well. I watch The Super Nannie (TSN) to get some awesome ideas. Let me tell you, some of the things I've seen her do and have tried... HAVE WORKED! He's been sleeping in his toddler bed since before he turned two. It's great to have them in a bed like this, however, it leaves it so they can continue getting up when they please. What I do where bedtime is concerned is start a routine. We have dinner, take a tubby, and get in our pjs. Once that's done we settle down by either watching a little tv or reading a book. We then brush our teeth and get tucked into bed. He almost ALWAYS gets up after we leave the room. The advice I took from TSN is to not say anything to them just put them back into bed and leave the room(it's supposed to be nothing personal, and you're supposed to seperate yourself from the struggle as much as possible). I've seen her tell parent's to do this, unfortunately for one mom it lasted for about 2 hours the first night. The night following that time kept getting shorter and shorter due to consistancy. At this age consitancy is a huge factor. After a few nights it'll get easier. The first few are always the hardest. It's worth it though to teach them how to get on a routine and to stay on one. It's got lots of benefits. Good Luck!!!

This sounds all to familiar- I have a 3 yr old son and he went through a small bough of the same. someone told me that you should discipline the same if he were out of bed so I did the normal routine at bedtime and told him that if he got out of bed I would put him in time out. The first few days he tried it and now he stays in his bed and may play for a while but he is quiet and goes to sleep it is so great- so try that if what ever you are doing isn't working.