I'm not really sure how you discipline a 13 month old, not that he needs a lot of discipline at this age. But he needs to stay safe so he needs to learn that tugging on electrical cords and grabbing the knobs on the stove is NOT OKAY! So I'm trying a method of saying "No Touch", then moving him away from the danger. If he goes back to it (which he almost always does), we do it again. Sometimes he laughs at me while I say "No Touch" as if to say "Really mom, you think you can stop me from doing exactly what I want?". That happened today and I realized most drastic measures were needed so I put him in time out.
I thought about putting in his crib, but I don't want him to associate that with "punishment" so I took him to the corner of the room. We sat down face to face and I put my hands on his chest and had him sit there while I counted to 30. He cried and screamed and I'm sure he was calling me nasty names, but he needed a time out. After I reached 30 I picked him up, gave him a hug and told him I loved him, but he was not allowed to tug on the power cords. Then we sat down to play with his trucks. Instead he crawled right back to the cord and gave it a tug - while looking at me straight in the eye! So he went into time out again. 30 more seconds, hugs and an explanation of why he can't tug on the cords. When we went to play with his cars again, he just played with the trucks and left the cord alone.
Now I know you can't really reason with or discipline a 13 month old, but I felt like this was a good starting point. Hopefully he'll stop trying to tug on the cords and will stay away from the oven knobs!
5 comments:
Well, I don't have a clue how to discipline a 13 month old, but my husband and I both believe it all hinges on follow through. I think what you did was fantastic and got the point across. I also like that you stayed with him. I might steal this idea in the future!
Have you read the book "The Happiest Toddler on the Block"? It's got so many great ideas for communicating with toddlers. Radar does the same thing with the eye contact and "that" look that says, "who do you think is the boss here mom?" So now I have two different "no's". There is the stern "no" which he doesn't take that seriously, even though he understands what it means. And then there's the "clap growl" which he knows means business. I haven't moved onto time outs, but I think it's time. Thanks for your tips on the water bowl - I'll try the time out and see if it helps.
By the way, Radar has those same white long johns with the red and blue trucks. Not the best for diaper changes, but sooooo cute and comfy!
Sounds really similar to what we've done. I always tried diversion first... distracting with an okay activity... that usually didn't work. Sounds like you did great and so did he! He realized you were serious and he had to change what he was doing. I agree with Becky, I think consistency and follow through seem to work best. Good luck! It only gets more fun from here!
Well i have ZERO experience with that sort of situation (unless you count some persistent adults) but yeah I'm impressed with your handling of it! Sounds like the exact mix of "NO" "hugs" and "distraction".
Nice job!
We just started time outs in the last few weeks with Owen, too. We didn't do it with Zoe till later, but she was awesome with just "no". Owen likes to push it. :-)
Having been down this road before, we have specific locations our each floor of our house that are designated "time out spots". It didn't take Zoe long to know what we meant when we got to "3" aka "time out", and she goes right there. I totally recommend it - adds to the consistency.
The best, though, is when you're consistent with your process, you can give them a time out *anywhere*. I've successfully given time outs, free from temper tantrums, in Ikea, the doctor's office, grandparents' houses ... because, let's face it, even the best behaved kid acts up in public on occasion. That's how they test the boundary!
Sounds like you're doing great!
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