Advice about my 21 month old!

[CadenceAlex]

Why is it... at the age of 21 months... she has started putting anything in her mouth... screws... stones... anything she can get her hands on.. and this morning Dave found her eating my Ghost body cream I had accidentally left on the floor in the bedroom... she stinks of it!!

We say 'don't do that' yet she laughs and carries on... nothing phases her... it's all funny.. we say 'No Cadence' with a serious tone and she stops for a second, and we will say 'Good girl'.. then the minute we turn our backs she will carry on being naughty...

.. is it normal for children of this age to totally disregard the word 'No' or are we doing something wrong? She is starting to drive me mad... we take her out as much as possible, but this morning she has had me demented... we are going out later this afternoon but as Dave did night shipping cover, he is still asleep... so she's running around up to allsorts and wont sit still with lego/books or anything.

I feel like all I do is moan at her!!!

 

[Glamnails72]

Can't really offer any advice, but just wanted to send a :hug: , I know toddlers can be "challenging" at the best of times - be sure its just a phase and she'll come out the other side, if you are worried have to talked to your health visitor, they're normally good for advise. :hug: :hug:

 

[pure]

Why........because she's 21 months!!! :lol:

She sounds a perfectly normal and well adjusted toddler and would get on very well with my son! I found him eating dirt in the garden the other day, and I think that was the day after he smothered himself and the carpet in Sudocrem.

If we tell him 'no' he either laughs and looks really cute or he sticks his nose in the air, folds his arms and walks off!

She's testing out her own and your boundaries but she will grow out of it. They start listening to mum and dad when they're about 18!!!! :green:

 

[nicky's nails]

awww hunny, yep she sounds perfectly normal to me , im nt sure thats what you wanted to hear though lol, maybe it would bebetter if you knew you were doing somehting wrong and someone could say try this and it will stop, but im afraid i remember all of mine going through the 'no' stage at varying times between ages of 18-28 months old, its them testing boundaries as pure said, and im sure you and dave are doing brilliantly hun, but yes it can be very tiring and frustrating

keep calm hun, and know that she is a happy healthy little girl , cant suggest anything else , just carry on with the telling her off in serious tone and praising her when shes stops and it will sink in eventually, honestly, one day youll thnk, ooh shes stopped when i said to, wow lol and then she'll move on to next stage rofl

HTHs hun take care xxxxxx

 

[Lellipop]

Oh the terrible Two's remember it well the only problem is my youngest had the terrible two's for about 4 years lol Sending you patience :hug:

 

[Brandywine]

She sounds very normal to me ( I've been a nanny, childminder and I have my own kids). As others have said she's just pushing the boundaries to find out what is and isn't acceptable.
Try to make sure that when you say no you mean it and stick to it.

Try diverting tactics whenever possible.

Praise good behaviour and try to ignore bad (not always possible!)

Try to give them choices with things that don't matter ( e.g they choose what colour T-shirt they wear)

It can be very wearing, so good luck, but they are lovely at that age too.
Mine are getting big and the time goes quickly so (oh no broody moment!)

 

[julia_james]

perfectly normal hun
my 18 year old and 16 year old still cant grasp the concept of no lol

 

[ladybgemini]

perfectly normal hun
my 18 year old and 16 year old still cant grasp the concept of no lol

Which part of NO do you think she doesnt understand!!!!!

You sound like you have a normal toddle there hun.

Have a :hug: to get you through. Mine is nearly THREE and still the same!!!!

 

[pure]

omg!!!! Don't you just love Sudocrem? :lol::lol:

 

[sugarbabe]

Been there, done that - husband just walked past sudocrem pic and winced, very painful memories!!!!

CadenceAlex are you feeding little Cadence???? :lol: Perhaps she is trying to supplement her diet!! Just joking. My little girl used to do this as her older brothers would react frantically thinking she would choke, and she just loved winding them up - even at that age.

Distraction with something more interesting usually works up to a point, but keep in mind that she is obviously a bright little thing and just extremely inquisitive and experimental!!

Don't let her know it's getting to you xxx

 

[Hope]

Bless, they certainly can be handfuls at times :hug: .

Just to give you something to look forward to, every single year they will go through a new stage, and it is so funny to watch as all 4 of mine have gone through the same things at roughly the same time, and where as with the first I would be thinking OMG! I now say 'oh do you remember when J, or T went through this stage', it is so funny.

Each time it gets easier to deal with, and each stage is as others have said your growing child testing their boundaries, just make sure that those boundaries are consistent day to day and between you and your OH.

Good Luck :hug:

 

[ValencianNails]

She's testing out her own and your boundaries but she will grow out of it. They start listening to mum and dad when they're about 18!!!! :green:

Each time it gets easier to deal with, and each stage is as others have said your growing child testing their boundaries, just make sure that those boundaries are consistent day to day and between you and your OH.

Pure and Hope are right... she's testing you to see how far she can go and what you'll do about it if she keeps on pushing the boundaries.

You need to decide when 'enough is enough' and stick to it...
they're little buggers at that age and SHE WILL push you to the limit, but it's all part of the learning process and if she doesn't know how far to push you then she'll get more wicked and more naughty.

You'll both have to decide where to draw the 'line' and more importantly stick to the rules and be consistent each and every time.

You could start with the "I'll count to three" rule, give her until the count of three to stop whatever she's doing then remove the things from her mouth.
It's not an easy task and it will wear you down but you will get there in the end :hug:

 

[hayls]

I agree with Sandi, you must be consistent, otherwise they are not gonna know their bum from their elbow. i.e. if you decide to use the naughty step, carry it on no matter where you are.

I dont agree with smacking so for us discipline was the naughty step! Our kids are terrified of it, so if they are being naughty, the step is a threat to begine with and if they continue to push it then they go on it for 1 minute for every year of their life! Its worked wonders for us, we started to use it when both our children were about 1 year and 3/4. It may not be everybodies cup of tea, but maybe worth a try? hth's xx

 

[ladybgemini]

The counting to 3 thing does work. When I first started doing it she didnt listen but now I only get to 1 or 2 and she stops. This is great for when you are out and about and want to avoid a scene!!!

naughty step doesnt work for us yet. She actually enjoys sitting on there so it's not really a punishment. If I ask her to do something and she doesnt do it, she puts herself on the step to avoid doing the thing I asked her to do.

We also have a reward chart for her to get stars on. Things like, eating brekkie, lunch and dinner, putting toys away, doing as ASKED and using her potty. She gets 10 stars on one line and we treat her to a pressie, this varies from paper n pens (Which she is no allowed unless we are about) or we bought her stuff for the garden, plants n seeds etc, so we benefit from it and she loves planting bits.

 

[blossom]

She sounds very normal to me ( I've been a nanny, childminder and I have my own kids). As others have said she's just pushing the boundaries to find out what is and isn't acceptable.
Try to make sure that when you say no you mean it and stick to it.

Try diverting tactics whenever possible.

Praise good behaviour and try to ignore bad (not always possible!)

Try to give them choices with things that don't matter ( e.g they choose what colour T-shirt they wear)

It can be very wearing, so good luck, but they are lovely at that age too.
Mine are getting big and the time goes quickly so (oh no broody moment!)

Excellent advice! I agree with all of this! Good luck hun & lots of patience! Make the most of her being tiny, I'd love to have my 8 & 9 year old that size again!

 

[gillian w]

I had a really good book that gave good helpful practical advice to try without being patronising or kooky it was Toddler taming by Dr Christopher Green.

 

[auntsally]

You have to be cruel to be kind sometimes, if you dont act now and stamp this out, they will end up like mine, one in broadmoor and the other on probation for attempted robbery on a post office. Try the naughty step technique, i think they have to stay on the naughty step for 25 minutes of every year old, or something like that..

 

[ValencianNails]

i think they have to stay on the naughty step for 25 minutes of every year old, or something like that..

 

[*JOANNE*]

You have to be cruel to be kind sometimes, if you dont act now and stamp this out, they will end up like mine, one in broadmoor and the other on probation for attempted robbery on a post office. Try the naughty step technique, i think they have to stay on the naughty step for 25 minutes of every year old, or something like that..

one minute for every year.......

 

[auntsally]

i dont think so, see earlier posts where everyone says kid thinks naughty step is fun. twenty five minutes for every year will sort that out.