The toddler years, which typically are considered around 3-5 years old, present an interesting challenge for parents. Your child is most likely still far from showing any level of emotional maturity, yet at the same time begin to become more defiant and vocal as their intelligence levels and expression skills improve. These years are typically the first years where parents will have to consider discipline, all while maintaining expression of love towards their child. There are many mistakes that parents will make during these years that have detrimental effects. Be careful and make sure to avoid them.
Show Weakness During Tamper Tantrums
During the toddler years, your child’s crying will devolve into more intentional, yet intense tantrums. This is simply the child’s way of trying to get something out of you by having an intense reaction when things are not appearing to go their way. Believe it or not, this is an entirely natural thing for toddlers to do and is not necessarily reflective of poor behavior. However, caving to these demands will show your toddler that acting this way will be beneficial to them down the road, which is why you must put your foot down and instruct them that it is not okay.
Using “Baby-Talk” with Toddlers
Your toddler will be just as cute as they were when they were a baby, and you may at heart find their baby talk endearing. However, these years are incredibly important to your child’s mental development, which means you need to start guiding them in the direction of becoming more mature. Talking back to them while sounding like a baby can inhibit this development while talking to them like they are a grown person can encourage them to grow their own language skills.
Do Things For Your Toddler That They Could Be Doing Themselves
The toddler years are finally when your child will show their first signs of independence, even if they are very simple. This needs to be encouraged, albeit through your own common sense. While you must be careful to not allow your toddler to take on too challenging of tasks, you should make sure that the tasks that your toddler can complete and should complete, are in fact done by them.