Having a Confident Toddler
The toddler years are the years in which a child begins to grow rapidly in all aspects of their life including mentally, physically, and emotionally. During these years, a toddler learns to walk, speak, and interact with others and their environment. They literally take in and learn from everything around them.
Parents want their children to be confident in their own abilities and to not be afraid to try new things. After all, the toddler years are a time for exploration. Unfortunately, their exploring expeditions often leaves many toddlers hear the word ‘no’ rather than the word ‘yes’. As parents it is important that we provide a balance and give our child opportunities to explore within limits. Some quick tips are: remove objects that are too tempting, try to limit the amount of rules that you have when your child is exploring, and don’t get upset if things aren’t perfectly neat. For example, if your child dumps out all of their toys… relax! They are just exploring what happens.
Another way to help boost your child’s confidence is to indulge their ‘helper’ side. When I clean the house or try to get my toddler dressed, I find that these situations can always go one of two ways. Either my child hinders my progress or helps his growth. What I mean is that instead of telling your child to go play with their toys in the room quietly while you clean the windows, let them help. Instead of battling your child to get that last shoe on their foot, challenge them to see if they can do it. You want to encourage your child about self reliant living. Praise them when they accomplish something or even just try something new. Give them simple tasks to do around the house like putting spoons on the table, folding towels, helping with the cooking, or putting toys away. Toddlers feel an extreme sense of satisfaction when they accomplish tasks on their own. As a result, their confidence grows because they realize they are capable of a great many things.
Most importantly, listen to your child when they are talking. Often toddlers do not speak well enough to be understood but they know what they’re saying. Give them your attention and respond by asking questions if what they want isn’t clear. If they say something you don’t understand, ask them to point it out to you and when you find out what it is, say the correct word out loud. More often than not, your child will repeat the word and remember for next time. When you listen you instill in him the idea that what he has to say is important.
June 25th, 2009 at 03:58
Sometimes your posts leave my head spinning wondering what the hell I just read, but after a few days it always starts to make sense. This one may take a week or two, but when it all sinks in I know it will mean money in the bank.