Saturday, January 7, 2012

365 New Things-Day 7 Disciplining a 1 Year Old

In light of my little man's 1st birthday and his recent temper tantrums. I wondered what could I do better to discipline him. I hate smacking his little hand because I'm not sure if he really understands why I'm doing it, but I know he understands when I say "no touching". I'll say that and he'll take his hand off and then one second later he'll do it again and again. I feel like he is testing me to see how long I'll let him get away with it. I've even tried just grabbing his hand and giving it a firm but not too firm squeeze. Still not really effective.

So to complete my day to today I did some research on different methods. I found that some people use; time outs, distraction, or simply leading them away. All of these methods I have tried and he still ignores me and keeps repeating what I've asked him not to.

I am trying to give my son a positive environment to live in and I don't want to constantly keep punishing him. But I know if I don't it will just get worse the older he gets.

I did find one website that I liked there approach. It was a great reminder reading about this that I am doing things right I just need to be a little more patient and cautious of my tone of voice. I'm trying to have my husband understand that raising his voice when my son is having a temper tantrum just makes it worse and doesn't help. I can't seem to get that sunk in, I might have to research that tomorrow.
This website though had an article,8 Tools For Toddler Discipline. I really enjoyed reading about this. It was encouraging and nice to have different options. I especially like the part where it talks about setting limits for the children.

"You firmly set a limit: street or parking lot crossing is only done while holding hands. There is no option. We worked hard to achieve the right balance between freedom and constraints for our toddlers. It was not easy. We wanted them to learn about their environment and about themselves, but not at the expense of harming themselves or others. They liked having rules and knowing how to apply them."

It's so true, I like to have my son learn by experience but when it is endangering him I would rather use words and explain the reasons instead. I just never really thought about it in this way.

I also really liked the last tool, #8: Create Structure. The first paragraph states,
"When your child reaches one year of age, another title is added to the parenting job description: architect of your child's environment. By taking on this job you steer the child's energies toward enjoyable learning experiences and away from harm. You create structure, which does not mean being inflexible, repressive, or domineering. on the contrary, what we mean by "structure" is setting the conditions that encourage desirable behavior to happen. Structure protects and redirects. You free the child to be a child and provide the opportunity to grow and mature. Structure creates a positive environment for the child. By a bit of preplanning you remove most of the "no's" so that a generally "yes" environment prevails."

I especially like the bold part because it also teaches me what I need to start focusing on. Switching my "no's" to "yes". I feel that by doing that it will not only create a positive environment for my son but it will also help me stay positive as well. Hopefully minimizing my frustration level.




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