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Behaviour/development

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How do I get a 2yo to listen?

2 replies

festivalwidow · 11/07/2012 13:56

I wonder if there's some game or other out there which will improve DD's 'listening' skills?
She's 2 and has a good vocabulary, language comprehension and is generally fairly well behaved apart from the usual 2yo moments (such as 'I want to go to the park!' at bedtime or whatever).

Lately there have been a number of comments at nursery that she hasn't been listening and they've had to put her in time-out on a couple of occasions for not following instructions. She is perfectly aware that she isn't 'listening' (in fact she'll proudly announce the fact): they know that she understands the instructions but just chooses to ignore them.
It hasn't happened much at home: I deal with it as a 1) ask, 2) if ignored, say "I've asked you nicely, now I'm telling you, you must do x" and 3) if ignored, say "I have now asked you three times. If you don't do x by the time I count to 3 there will be y consequence" and follow through if necessary. We've only got to the final stage once and it's been largely OK since.

I'm not bad at doing the 'you don't hit at nursery, you don't hit at home or at any other time because it's not nice: can you show everyone how nice you can be?' sort of pep talk, but it seems really vague to say "now today, are you going to listen?" and not quite right to say "now DD, I want you to do as you're told all the time" (I don't want to squish a questioning nature out of her: I've made a living from questioning everything)

Has anyone used a technique to get their toddlers to 'listen better'? I guess half of the problem is that I'm not sure if she's not doing as she's told, not joining in or not paying attention Confused

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Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Harecare · 11/07/2012 14:01

She sounds like a well behaved child who must listen or she wouldn't speak so well.
Maybe explain that the staff think she isn't listening at times. To show you are listening you must look at them, be still and be quiet. So if someone calls you, this is what good listening is. Can you try to do that today every time you hear your name?
Explain to the staff that unless they call her name and she shows she is listening they can assume she isn't so wait for her to stop what she's doing before giving another instruction.

tostaky · 11/07/2012 16:25

Might be worth getting her checked by the Gp for ear infection?

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