13 Ways to Encourage Toddler Good Behavior

In addition to keeping the "don't-touch" items out of the way, consider positive steps you can take to encourage good behavior in your toddler.

1. Give Him His Own Drawer In The Kitchen

filled with interesting items to pull out, sort, and study, things like measuring spoons, plastic dishes, a potato masher. Provide things of his own around the house that he can push, pull, turn, and manipulate.

2. Give Him a Safe Outlet For Climbing

Let him experiment with pouring water in a dishpan outside or in a tub, or at the sink under your supervision. Uncooked rice or oatmeal are easy-to-clean-up indoor substitutes for pouring sand.

3. Place Child-Sized Furniture Around The House

to encourage the busy toddler to sit still longer and "work" at her own drawing table. A step stool will help her reach the kitchen sink for hand washing, tooth brushing, and for "helping" in the kitchen.

4. Program Your Day to Fit Your Child

It's easier to shuffle your daily schedule around a bit than to change the temperament of your toddler. Do not set yourself up for impossible struggles. You know your child best, and you will learn, by trial and error, what works.

5. Use Wisdom When Shopping

When you shop with a toddler, be sure she is well-rested and well-fed, and be ready with a nutritious snack to keep her mind off the cereal boxes, lettuce, and egg cartons. Be prepared to have it take twice as long. Take your babysling along, or let baby ride in the cart. Have fun and a short grocery list. If you're in a hurry, feeling distracted or stressed, shop without baby.

6. Plan Ahead

Know your child's up and down times of the day. Most toddlers behave their best in the morning and their worst in late afternoon or just before naptimes. Plan outings during what we call "easy times." Martha finds mornings one of the easiest times of the day to get our children to fit her agenda. During "tough times" of the day, our toddlers stay at their homebase.

7. Anticipate Your Child's Moods,/b>

Provide snacks, and lunch or supper before he gets ravenous. Sit down to share some quiet activity before he's so wound up he can't fall asleep at night.

8. Provide Regular Routines

You don't have to be a slave to a schedule, but toddlers need predictability: breakfast first, then get dressed; put on socks and shoes, then go bye-bye; supper, quiet play, bath, brush teeth, then bedtime stories. Routines give a child a sense of mastery.

9. Program Your Child to Fit Your Day

While children are not machines set to behave according to the design of the parent engineer, there are simple ways to channel little minds and bodies to make your day run smoother:

10. Provide a Rested Mind and Full Tummy

If you have no choice but to take a toddler to a place where it's difficult to be a two-year-old, plan ahead. Suppose you have a meeting with your older child's schoolteacher at four o'clock and you have to take along your two-year-old. Encourage your child to take a 1½ to 2 hour nap at 1:30, give a snack just before leaving home, and take along some quiet but fascinating toys. Be sure your child has had lots of your attention earlier in the day. This may help him behave better while you concentrate on the meeting. Invite him to sit on your lap while you talk.

11. Provide Workable Playtimes

Life with a toddler can seem like a roller- coaster ride unless you know what sets off the highs and the lows. Note what prompts desirable behavior, and cut out what stirs turmoil. Some play environments foster good behavior in your child and fewer hassles for you. Seek out the ones that work; avoid the ones that don't. It may be a who, when, and how-many-playmates decision. Recognize who your child has the most fun with (this may not be the child of your best friend) and the time of the day he plays best. Does he play better one-on-one or beside two or three other mates? Most toddlers do best playing alongside a carefully-selected playmate with a compatible temperament. Many children under three are not developmentally ready to play together cooperatively. Playgroups for toddlers work well when the mothers are willing to be present and observant, and able to be involved as the toddlers learn the social "ropes." An alternative to same-age playmates would be four-to-six-year-old playmates for your two-year-old. Older ones like playing with "babies" and they won't end up fighting.

12. Eliminate High-risk Toys

Plastic bats are great for solo play but a disaster in a group. Select age and temperament-appropriate toys. An impulsive thrower needs soft toys, not metal cars that he can use as projectiles. If a toy habitually excites squabbles among playing children, shelve it. Children under three do not yet have the developmental capacity to share.

13. Busy the Bored Child

A bored child is a breeding ground for trouble. Let your child be busy with you. Sometimes play with her yourself; sometimes have things for her to do on her own. The fourteen-to-eighteen-month-old will need you a lot. After that, a toddler is more and more able to self-stimulate.

The bored child with a busy parent is a high-risk mismatch. Count on the old standby: "Want to help Mommy?" Her "help" may slow you down, but this is less time-consuming than dealing with an "unbusy" child.

Sounds familiar... :(

OCD) Some common compulsions include counting specific things (such as footsteps) or in specific ways (for instance, by intervals of two), and doing other repetitive actions, often with atypical sensitivity to numbers or patterns. People might repeatedly wash their hands^[19] or clear their throats, make sure certain items are in a straight line, repeatedly check that their parked cars have been locked before leaving them, constantly organize in a certain way, turn lights on and off, keep doors closed at all times, touch objects a certain number of times before exiting a room, walk in a certain routine way like only stepping on a certain color of tile, or have a routine for using stairs, such as always finishing a flight on the same foot.

(Social Anxiety) A psychopathological (chronic and disabling) form of social anxiety is called social phobia or social anxiety disorder, and is a chronic problem that can result in a reduced quality of life.^[3] It is approximated that roughly 40 million American adults ages 18 and older (18.1%) have an anxiety disorder.^[4] The difference between social anxiety and normal apprehension of social situations is that social anxiety involves an intense feeling of fear in social situations and especially situations that are unfamiliar or in which one will be watched or evaluated by others. The feeling of fear is so great that in these types of situations one may be so worried that he or she feels anxious just thinking about them and will go to great lengths to avoid them.

Inspiring Screen-Free Alternatives

Inspiring Screen-Free Alternatives

1. Visit your local library.
2. Build a fort together.
3. Bake something yummy together! 
4. Go fishing. Go for real or just pretend to go!
5. Play a game of invisible basketball. 
6. Climb a tree.
7. Make your own sidewalk chalk stencils.
8. Act out a favorite book or movie.
9. Go to the park.
10. Play Red Light, Green Light or another classic childhood game.
11. Make wishes in a fountain.
12. Go on a picnic.
13. Build and fly your own kite. 
14. Tell stories.
15. Craft up some handmade gifts for Mom (Mother's Day is coming up!)
16. Have family game time. 
17. Host a birthday party.... for your child's teddy bear.
18. Dress up! Pretend play through dress up can be fun for the whole family. 
19. Write thank you notes together.
20. Go camping and leave the screens at home or camp out in your living room and pretend they aren't there!
21. Build a marble run. 
22. Go on a nature walk.
23. Clean one room of the house together. Pretend you are filming a cleaning commercial.
24. Write to a pen pal.
25. Plant a container garden.
26. Communicate with lightening bugs. All you need is a flashlight!
27. Go stargazing.
28. Have a candlelight night. Go completely unplugged and eat, play and bathe by candlelight.
29. Start a lemonade stand. 
30. Try to find pictures in the clouds. What can you see?
31. Build a town with blocks. Use masking tape for roads. 
32. Go on a treasure hunt.
33. Make a potion lab. 
34. Take turns reading to each other.
35. Make mud pies together.
36. Go on a bug hunt!
37. Whip up a batch of homemade play dough. 
38. Make pet rocks.
39. Do a puzzle together.
40. Visit a "U-Pick" farm and pick your own fruit! 
41. Make your own scratch and sniff paint. 
42. Look through family photo albums and share favorite memories.
43. Craft up a batch of tissue paper flowers, then make "deliveries" to friends. 
44. Make your own musical instruments and start a family band.
45. Build an obstacle course together.
46. Make paper airplanes. See which style of plane flies the straightest, fastest, etc.
47. Paint...with water! 
48. Have a joke contest. Try and get the most laughs.
49. Start a stamp collection.
50. Volunteer for a cause as a family. This could be as simple as picking up trash around your community.

Idiots @ the grocery store

Took my two youngest daughters to a very busy grocery store today, the 1st. Yes, I'm crazy. Indeed it was packed tighter than a can of sardines, but I went as early as possible and only went in with a $30 budget. I had a list and a calculator and was often glared at for tracking my spending and crossing off my items.

Why do strangers feel that other people do not have just as much right to be in the grocery store as they do? I shopped quickly, purchased only two dozen items and scooted out of others' way when needed. I know it's their problem, not mine, but I felt seriously bullied today by those casting glances of disapproval.

*sigh* Suppose it was just a sea of nobodies, and I'll hold out for the kind stranger who makes friendly chit chat while in line. Those people are few and far between these days, but I'm sure in an ocean of bitter shoppers, there might just be more than one would expect. And HEY, there's sunshine today so I'm not going to let those meanies hold me down!

 

 

You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth.”
― William W. Purkey

It's that time again, drama!

“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”
― André Gide, Autumn Leaves

 

My close friend, Minnie, has been struggling with her relationship lately. I have dated a few toads in my day, yet I'm fortunate to be happily married and I think she compares herself to Sam and I, at times. Minnie is with a 35 year old man who refuses to grow up. I like him well enough, he's nice has so much potential, but Minnie is getting tired of his "Mama's Boy" ways.

For one, Minnie's boyfriend has a son from a previous relationship. She didn't know until their 3rd date, and she decided to break her rule and continue seeing him. Minnie has to deal with his ex-wife being somewhat involved in their love life, for the sake of their son. Also, there's the nagging fact that he was already married and rejected by another woman who could apparently not, "change him".

I'm not sure if it's possible to change a man, but I'm trying to be supportive. Part of me wants her to kick him to the curb, but I shall keep my opinions to myself until she asks for them. Even then, if I trash this guy to her and they stay together (or break up and then hook up again) I'm forever the friend who put him down.

What to do?

Confetti cake idea *pinterest*

 

This is my idea for next birthday for my middle daughter, what do you think?

January slump...time to get out!

“Either get busy living, or get busy dying.” — The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Tonight's dinner is sliced potatoes boiled with whole milk and butter (it's comfort food right?) chopped garlic, parsley flakes, sprinkled with shredded pepperjack and bread crumbs. Threw in some diced ham from the freezer and flung it in the oven...time will tell if this was whimsical genius or utter failure!

Wondering what to do during this cold weather month?