What Your Toddler Thinks Of Discipline

I’ve been told that I “understand” toddlers (and nothing could be a greater compliment). This might be because my own emotional development was partially arrested as a toddler for reasons I haven’t yet unraveled, but it’s probably also because after all the time I’ve spent observing toddlers, I’ve begun to identify with them. Sometimes, for example, when a parent in class asks her toddler not to throw...

Parent Do-Overs – 7 Confidence Building Responses

If parenting were film acting, we’d always be brilliant because we’d have plenty of “takes” to perfect our responses (not to mention make-up, hair styling and ridiculously high salaries).  But we are playing a part — the role of a lifetime for a lifetime.  Luckily, we perform for an adoring, forgiving audience, and our children will usually accept our less thoughtful, less than stellar performances....

Your Toddler Doesn’t Need Taming

The words we use matter. Infants are not “its”. Toddlers don’t need “taming”. Wild animals might need taming (in the rare instance that’s necessary), but toddlers need acceptance, guidance, and understanding. Each time we speak or write we are not only reflecting our perceptions, but also reinforcing them and affecting others. If you catch yourself using objectifying or dehumanizing words when referring...

How To Handle Your Toddler’s Intensity

Hi Janet, My son is 3 years old and is a very happy child! He is at a RIE accredited Montessori school since he was little. I’m a working mom. I will never forget that after his first days at the infant room, his teacher told me that it was amazing how much he observed. His eyes did not stop moving one side to the other. She used the term busy but at that point and being a first time mom, it did not mean a lot...