Just that really - my DTs are coming up for 2 and I realise that I've developed an allergy to parenting books so I have a very vague idea of what developmental milestones are coming up this year.
What would you say the highlights of the year from age 2 to 3 were?
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Behaviour/development
Now my twins are nearly 2, what do we have to look forward to this year?
14 replies
toomuchtooold · 24/03/2014 06:44
OP posts:
Bumpsadaisie ·
24/03/2014 12:35
I notice you use the phrase "look forward to" in connection with the "twos". Is this a typo?
Ha ha joking aside, the twos are lovely because:
- they can talk much more, which is very cute and entertaining
- you no longer have to spend every second worrying about their physical safety, you can get rid of stair gates and cots and let them have a proper bed and roam around
- they might happily sit and play for longer periods on their own
- only one more year till free childcare for 15 hrs
- they will probably potty train, which once done means no more pooey nappies Hallelujah!
- if they don't yet sleep well they will probably start sleeping better as they drop a nap
- at two they don't really understand enough to do as they are told. But they are en route to learning it. My DS is 2.5 now and in the last few months has learned to change his behaviour if I tell him no and that he will have to go and sit on the stairs if he continues. At 2, he would just have giggled.
The twos are awful because:
- potty training is a faff
- they will be getting ready to drop a nap in the pm
- two year olds are on a collision course with you. By the time they are 2.5 you will get the constant "no" to every suggestion you make combined with tears every time anything goes the slightest bit wrong. You will need to wake up 30 mins earlier in the morning to factor in the time it takes to deal with persuading a toddler to get dressed and eat breakfast, and deal with the emotional roller coaster ride that accompanies it
- they will probably start using food or table manners as one of their little battlegrounds
My top tips are:
- parenting a toddler is all about balance. They are looking where the boundaries are, so you need to set some and refuse to allow your toddler to push those boundaries over. On the other hand, if you totally squash all the independence and life out of your toddler by being totally over the top and authoritarian about every little thing, you are going to have a very miserable time of it.
-My rule of thumb has been to come down like a ton of bricks on anything that is dangerous rude or antisocial. So, hitting his elder sister, chucking his food around, not listening to me re: road safety.
But on the other hand (generally speaking) I try to facilitate my DS when he wants to do something that is merely inconvenient for me (e.g. the constant requests to help, to climb in his car seat by himself and so on). Hopefully that way he is getting a balance of being allowed to express his agency and feel that he can influence and control his environment, but also he knows where the boundaries are and I'm firm with them. He's a toddler so I have to expect that getting dressed is going to take a LONG time as he will want to "do it mine self". Its not fair to expect a toddler to just sit quietly and get dressed in three minutes, merely cos you have got the school run coming up and your elder one needs to be on time. Much better to get up early and allow the toddler 15 mins. You can avoid a lot of angst and tantrums this way. Of course I don't always manage to organise it so it works out like this. But its my ideal.
- offer (a small number of) choices. This way they feel like they are in control.
- if they want to do something they want it REALLY badly. I mean really. Consider letting them do it if you can. Eg if he wants odd socks on, does it really matter, do you really need to insist he puts a correct pair on? This kind of thing I would humour the toddler on, and save the confrontations for the biggies.
Good luck.
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