So how do you decide what behavior of a child to criticize and what to leave without scolding? I know they test your limits and all but at times my 14 month old does such cute things, that are rather annoying to me but i know for her they are a part of discovering the world around her. Lately i have been wondering whether to say anything to her when she is smashing a banana in her hand and rubbing in her hand or while she wants to touch the plants and feel the soil in her hands. Ok i do stop her when she touches the plants and stuff since i dont want her to ingest anything harmful. But really, how do you pick your battles?
She is too young for scolding,she is just 14 mnths old, stop her gently.Not right now :)
Re: toddler behavior
Follow your instincts. Ira, you will be able to tell when she's deliberately choosing to ignore you when you ask her to do or not to do something.
Touching and exploring is normal at this age.
You can tell if your child throws something on the floor on purpose in order to challenge you cause they will normally look you in the eye at the same time :D . I don't know what the correct response is, but I can tell when he does it on purpose to challenge me (normally it is followed by the spoon and bowl being tossed onto the floor), he goes onto the naughty mat and then he has to pick the stuff up and put it on the table.
Trust your instincts. I started putting him on the naughty mat at 18 months .... I think she's too small right now, but you can certainly tell her not to touch things and explain why. She's old enough to understand if you explain to her in simple terms.
Re: toddler behavior
UZ, i dont mean i should yell at her or anything but what i mean is, is it going to come bite me later on if i dont stop her from making a mess or doing something i dont wnat her to do?. i dont usually stop her right now, because even though it means more cleanup for me but she looks super cute while rubbing food on the kitchen floor or sneaking a choc chip cookie and i find her covered in melted choc all over her mouth and body, lol.
Re: toddler behavior
Mehnaz, when she is done eating, she throws everything off the high chair on the floor. Often times i tell her to not throw on the floor but put on the dining table which she does. I have noticed she has my personality: if someone tells me forcefully to do something, i dont like it. When i was younger, it put me off from doing anything that someone wanted me to do by screaming or yelling at me. She is the same way. If i ask her nicely, she will do it. If i do it sternly, she picks up on the tone and defies me, lol.
throwing stuff from the table once she is full is her sign of showing im done ma. teach her the sign of allah shukar by putting up the 2 hands
i started aariz off on taht once he started to throw his stuff from the chair... now he just does the allah shukar sign and i know he is done. no throwing stuff around
he has started to challenge me by not picking up stuff taht he has thrown about.. i get down on my knee and look him in the eye... usually he does it.. sometimes he doesnt and i let it go .... he too is of the nature where force and harsh words will not work. u dont want to squeeze them too much.
and the best advice i got was... put their stuff in cabinets they always go for.. the charm of opening cabinets will die very fast.
remove stuff that is way too fascinating for them at this discoverry stage... this is not the time to teach them what they can touch and what they cant cuz tey cant remember from one day to another. especially the really entertaining things.. for me it was plants and wires. he used to go for them no matter what.. i could stare him down, pat his hand lightly, shake my head vigourously.. to no avail... so i removed them from his reach.
see.. if u say no no too much.. they stop listening.
otherwise like mhen said.. u know ure kid the best...go from there... it all in the eyes :D