Two toddlers!

[Becky83]

Hi....this is the first time i've posted!

I had a boy whos 2.5 and a girls who 18 months. There is just 14 months between them and at the moment I am really struggling to cope with them! My boy is really pushing my buttons lately....constant tantrums, throwing toys at his sister, refusing to eat and sleep.

I know I need to get out with them but EVERY trip to the park, play cente, anywhere is a nightmare. My boy wants to go in one direction, my girl in other and I'm just in complete panic about leaving one even for a spilt second to play with other!

I am trying a time out thing with my son at the moment to try and syop the hitting but I find I am spending all day putting him in his room and neglecting my girl.

I feel really torn....is this normal?

Hi sorry not much experience with two toddlers but time-out never worked with DD (23.5 months) I used it for a while and it only made things much worse . Sorry it may not be what you wanted to hear.

What I am trying now with DD is to give her more attention which in your situation you may think it is not possible, but have you tried to do everything the 3 of you together? I know there may be games/toys that your little one cannot play but if she is with you you can control it and give your attention to the oldest at he same time one maybe. Maybe if you are in the park you can play "Catch mum" so the oldest one can catch you while you are with your young one and then swap sides? You may also want to consider that it may be easier to change you little one to suit the eldest regarding playing and where she wants to walk.

My experience with DD when we were in the park and she didn't wanted to come where I was or leave was to start walking as if I was leaving and very soon she would be running behind me. Of course before I did this I was asking her to come or explaining her that we had to leave. In that works with some children. They do not want us to go to far away and will do anything to be close to the distance they consider to be safe for them.

Hope this helps

Ahhhh thanks. I think I spend so much time worrying that every outing is going to end in disaster I'm forgetting to enjoy them....the catch game defo sounds like a winner!

I'm not finding this time out thing very useful. We just end up trapped in a battle of wills and none of us will give in!