consequences for 2 yr old?

[sofia99]

my DS is 2 (just) and can be rough with our cats and dogs - usually more experimental or excitable than spiteful. I feel as if I am often having to either shut all animals away from us or tell himn off frequntly (which makes him stop but he looks interested rather than worried!). I really want him to respect them and be gentle with stroking (he has never seen us hit or kick them, btw). I know he is only 2 and constant supervison is required but my question is: if I implement a system which means there are consequences for innappropriate handling, will he 'get' it, or is he too young? And what could I do? 'naughtly step'? Confiscate toys? i don't want to be horrible to him for no reason i.e. if he cannot understand this yet. What do you think? TIA

I mean we never hit or kick our animals btw, not we wait until he is not looking!

anyone??

I would say at 2 he's probably too young. My DS (7) has grown up with dogs. When he was younger the dog would be in the room with us for a while but I would usually end up putting the dog in another room - for the dog's sake so he got some peace! I've always stressed how to stroke animals, not tease, leave them when sleeping etc.

It depends on how rough your Ds is being I would say. My DS used to pat a bit too hard etc but wouldn't deliberately hurt them so I only needed to stress to be gentle. However, if your DS is pulling tails etc/teasing maybe you need to do a bit more. Just bear in mind your DS is only 2 and is still learning

Just keep on showing him how to do it, give lots of praise when he gets in right and pick him up and take him away if he is rough. Keep at it and he will learn.

I think you are right to worry that he is too little for consequences, ime 2 is too young.

Yeah I think 2 is too young for the naughty step. My DS is 2 and there is no way he would 'get' it.

I would just be consistant. Tell him its wrong and it hurts the animal, then show him how to do it.

As a punishment we take away a favourite toy which used to work quite well. Sometimes it still does but after his birthday and xmas, he has so much he will just go and get something else. If he is particularly attached to anything then it may work.

Thank you, i am comfortable with all that. Just wanted to be sure it would start working eventually and i wasn't just going to bore us all to death by going 'not like that, like this, nooo'etc for ever,and for it to never work becasue it wasn't being 'backed up'. I even think maybe taking a toy away could be too obscure for him to connect the behaviour and consequences; I think maybe putting animal/us out of the room may be better as he loses the contact with the animal (though there is usually another one lurking near by!) which is a 'punishment' for him.

We have exactly the same problem - 2yo and one very lovely dog. We have actually just started using the naughty step for hitting (dog and people!) She did 'get' it. My DH actually did it when I wasn't there, for throwing a cup at him, and she actually told me later on what had happened, so she did know that

the incident had occurred
it was unnacceptable
and there was a consequence

I do praise her heavily for stroking the dog nicely, so I think the message is getting through. Oh and we're seeing that she is REALLY good with other people's animals too, so it must be getting through somewhere.

Thanks Smackamacka, nice to know. He is pretty good at communicating - talks in sentances and can tell people about things he has done so I wondre if he may get it. I'll play it by ear and see what happens and how bad it gets! He knows how to behave with the animals too, fo rexample he will often go 'come on mummy' then hold his hand out, wiggle his fingers and do a kissy noise like I do to call the cats!