5 Things To Teach Your Toddler That You Won’t Regret
It’s never too early to start instilling good values and habits in your children. Little toddler minds will soak up everything – sometimes more than you wish they would. As a mom, I am motivated to teach Rosie a few habits that I believe are important. Some of these she picked up quickly and very early on. Others took a little extra commitment and effort on my part. It was all worth it! At 18 months now, she has a good handle on all these habits. Stick it through and you’ll be glad you did! Here are 5 easy habits to teach your toddler that you won’t regret:
Wait
It’s important for a child to know that they are not the center of the universe. Rosie demands things now. If she doesn’t get her milk right when she wakes up, she gets anxious and temperamental. If she doesn’t get the snack on the counter right away, she’ll fret and whine. I don’t know if it’s because she’s a toddler or because she inherited this nasty habit from her mama, but I realized I needed to correct this habit.
Resist meeting their demands right away. It’s okay that you want to take a bathroom break before you have circle time with all her stuffies. Communicate. Rosie has become very familiar with the phrase first ___ then ____. Give assurance and affirmation. Make sure you follow through (if they waited all day for that cookie, make sure you give it to them when you said you would!). In some situations like waiting rooms or boring car rides, play games, sing songs or do activities to take their mind off things.
Give Hugs & Kisses
Being generous with hugs and kisses is a practical way to show love. Physical touch is a love language that’s ranked pretty high in our family. We teach Rosie to give hugs and kisses as a sign of affection through example. Be generous with your hugs and kisses (both to your child and to other family members); they’ll easily pick up quick. Once she was able to understand, we started asking for hugs and kisses in return. We encourage her to hug grandma and grandpa before we say goodbye. We also take turns showing affection to her stuffies too. I’m well aware soon I will have to teach boundaries – one day!
PS. I was gifted this gorgeous knit halter top from PinkBlush and I’m in love! One perk of being a pregnant mama is the excuse to shop for cute maternity clothes. I’ve been meaning to look for maternity tops for some time now. I adore loose and comfy shirts so especially with spring right around the corner, I think this burgundy halter knit top is perfect! Thank you PinkBlush!
Have A Good Morning Routine
A good morning routine is another one of the 5 easy habits to teach your toddler. You can never be too young to have the habit of starting a day off fresh and focused. Every morning, Rosie gets dressed, eats breakfast and washes up before facing whatever the day brings.
If your toddler is anything like mine, they just want to do whatever you’re doing. Rosie likes to get me dressed while I get her dressed. She knows how to get my socks from my sock drawer. She tries to pick out my shirt for the day. She putters around in the kitchen while I make breakfast. We brush our teeth together (check out these cool brushes). I wash her face, then mine. Then we lotion together. I let her brush her hair (and sometimes mine).
The bottom line is to commit to making this a part of your own daily routine. Model it well. Let your toddler participate whenever it’s feasible (even if the process takes three times as long). Make the routine fun and attractive, not forced.
Clean Up
A parent once warned me: don’t clean up in front of your kid because they will quickly learn that they don’t have to do it. I’m not sure what my stance is on that advice but it is a good idea for Rosie to learn to clean up after herself.
Make clean-up time a fun family activity. Model it well. Encourage your toddler to participate. Sometimes you might need to give them an incentive. Sing a clean-up song. Start when they’re young so that your child will still think anything you’re doing is cool and worthy of being imitated.
Rosie is great at picking up her bristle blocks at the end of the day. Her favourite part is putting on the lid once everything is in the bucket. She can put away her markers and she always puts the lids back on too! She also understands that she should put back one book if she is going to take a new one off the shelf.
Yes
It’s no surprise toddlers learn the word NO very early on. Although necessary, I find it’s easy for parents to overuse this word. No don’t touch that. No don’t go there. No you can’t eat this. Be just as intentional to teach your child YES. I try to find equal opportunity to say YES to Rosie. Also provide opportunities for your toddler to practice using YES and NO. Books like Where’s Spot are great at facilitating this. I also ask her YES or NO questions like do you have to go potty? or do you want to eat more cereal? Make sure to take her answer seriously so she understands that her response matters.
Lots of times, NO can be exchanged for LATER or NOT NOW. I prefer using these words followed by an explanation: not now, you can watch Pinkfong later. we only watch it in the afternoon remember? It’s so easy to say NO NO NO for everything (you know how toddlers can get) but how overbearing would that be.
So those are the 5 easy habits to teach your toddler! What would be on your list? Let us know below!
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