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Discipline toddlerFirst Step to discipline toddler is to pay attention to your toddler's emotional needs and understanding his developmental level.Once you realize how and why your toddler act the way he or she does, it will be easier for you to distinguish the behavior you shouldn't change and the behavior your should change. When your baby learns to walk, he officially becomes a toddler. This and other developmental milestones, mental and motor, being a new set of challenges. Your role as disciplinarian expands from simple nurturing to providing a safe environment in which your toddler can explore and learn. Have realistic expectations for normal toddler behavior: Toddlers are curious, driven, strong-minded. They need these qualities to learn, to persist, to bounce back in spite of life's little setbacks, to get up and try again. Toddlers also begin to think of themselves as individuals separate from Mommy. This is both exciting and frightening: The toddler is ready to shed the restrictions of being a baby but not ready to leave behind the security. The lessons an attachment-parented baby learns during his first year help him cope with the ambivalence of toddlerhood. Because he is used to feeling right he is less likely to get himself into situations that make him feel wrong. Because he enters toddlerhood trusting in himself and in his caregivers, there is a balance in what he does and how he acts. There is purpose to his actions that make him fascinating to watch. The attachment parents read their child like a book and anticipate what will happen on the next page. They will learn specific ways to channel their toddler's behavior and set discipline for their toddler. Second step is set Limits to your toddlerMuch of your discipline depends upon your ability to set limits. Humans need limits, and the younger the human the more defined should be the limits.Limits do not really restrict a child but rather protect the curious explorer and his environment, freeing him up to function better within those confines. Limit setting also teaches a valuable lesson for life: The world is full of yeses an nos. You decide what behavior you cannot allow and stick to that limit. This will be different for every family and every stage of development. Toddlers want someone to set limits. Without limits the world is too scary for them. They intuitively know they need the security that limits bring. When they test the limits they are asking you to show them how dependable you and your limits are. Discipline toddler is not what we are doing to our children, it is what we are doing for and with them, and what they are doing for themselves.
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