Car Journeys and How I Survive Them With Toddlers!

Surviving Car journeys with babies and toddlers; its important to prepare for success. So often we have such high expectations for the smallest members of our family whilst giving them minimal resources. A ten minute car journey can feel like a week to a young child. An actual long journey like an hour plus needs to be prepared for if you want it to be a peaceful and successful journey. A successful journey will be a great representation to the child of how to behave in the car in future and that car journeys can be tolerated and even enjoyed. Continuous unsuccessful car journeys can begin to create an association and then you’ll be tackling a whole bigger issue. Preparing an achieving successful journeys is akin to a good investment, it will pay off for you in the long run. You’ll have kids that don’t find the car aversive and are very tolerant of journeys long our short.

Continue reading

Siblings: Toddler meets Baby, My Most FAQ

One of the most frequent conversations I have with parents goes a little like this……………………….. 

Parent: My toddler has started to ——————- towards my baby.

Insert type of aggression: push, pull, throw, hit, slap, bite, pinch.

Me: When did this begin?

Parent: I think it started a few weeks ago when they baby started —————-.

Insert Milestone: sitting, crawling, weaning, talking, standing, walking

Me: When does it happen?

Parent: Normally, when I’m there, it definitely feels like its for my attentionf ollowed by; But I make sure they don’t feel displaced by baby and/or, But I give them loads of one to one and/or, But they love their brother/sister so much.

Continue reading

Toilet Training – Are they ready?

Toilet Training is one of those milestones that causes stress for most parents, especially with more and more pre school services expecting them to be independent regardless of age. A lot of parents are feeling the pressure to train and not sure whether their child is actually ready.

If you are not feeling this pressure then my personal attitude is wait, wait and wait some more. You can only start potty training too early there’s no such thing as too late. Don’t be pushed by Granny or by neighbour Janet most importantly even after reading my advice go with your gut. You know your child best.

Continue reading

Top Tips – Communicating With a Toddler, Think Statements!

20190502_162507_0000

The Toddlers in our lives are a far more complicated bunch than they would appear. They often talk and act a lot older than their age and sometimes even lull us into a false sense of not only maturity but of emotional understanding and even have us believing their comprehension is more developed than it is. This is totally normal and all part of that Toddler rollercoaster. When expectations are raised above their abilities, you can expect tantrums, meltdowns, aggression, screaming and no doubt tears! We’ve set our little toddlers up for failure. Toddlers can feel like a mystery from one day to the next fighting over which colour plate and tantrumming over what seems like the silliest of things. Today I’ll take one area of communication we as parents can nurture, in an attempt at reducing some of these toddler frustrations and in turn hopefully nurturing some positive behaviors. 

Continue reading