Laughing when being told off !!

[kristatwin]

My dd is 17 months old and a real handful when trying to discipline her she thinks it is really funny and all a game, is she still to young to understand !!

yes

she is too young!

'Telling off' is a strange (to put it mildly) 'method' of dicipline , regardless of childs age.

At 17 months everything is a game. Laughing and crying are very closely linked (the BBC make a fortune out of exploiting that with their exported gritty northern dramas).

Ignore and redirect at this age.

I am no child pyschologist, but this is my own take on the disciplining young children thing:

Sometimes young children can tell by your tone of voice and facial expressions that you are unhappy/cross but do not have the ability to understand and analyse why. They can read emotion but without the ability to empathise and understand your emotion,
so what do they do?
either are confused and become upset (parents sometimes feel misplaced happiness that their child is showing remorse)
or try to make you happy again and make it better - try to smile and joke you into responding, or even repeat the magic word "sorry" if they are at that stage. Not because they understand what sorry is or means, just that it means you will no longer be serious and angry and everything will be ok again.

So, does this mean no discipline? no, I still think you need to show with tone and voice, stop them repeating dangerous or potentially damaging stuff BUT don?t expect them to understand why

just read that back - not convinced I made any sense there or explained what I meant please forgive the crapness of that LOL and hopefully you will see what I meant to say. Long day...

Hmm - depends what you mean by telling off. The word 'no' is learnt very early both their ability to say it and to receive it. However, they will not understand why and this can only be done over time by reinforcing the word 'no' with a distraction from the unwanted behaviour.

Also, another reason why she might be laughing is because she has already begun to learn that she can alter your reactions by hers. e.g. when a young child or baby looks at an adult they are often rewarded with a smile and they then smile back. Your daughter may be attempting to get you to smile (a positive response and something that she is used to that is nice) when she is not sure why your face is saying something else.

Why so Rollmops?

To me 'telling off' is showing the child that something is unacceptable by changing the tone in your voice and expression on your face. It is that which gets the message across rather than the content.

OP - Mine does that too. I say 'No' when she is throwing her food on the floor or pulling her sisters hair, but she thinks its all a game. I don't think you can discipline as such, but show disapproval. They generally continue regardless.

Ignore the things you can, disapprove and remove when its the things you can't.

Totally agree with Ohforfox...