How do I stop my two year old kicking and acting out?

Suzanne - posted on 06/04/2011

Thanks Nicole, you've been such a good help!!

I've actually just started reading his bedtime story in a chair in his room rather than in his cot before I read your post (so it was spooky when you reccomended the same!)and he seems to like it a lot better as he goes to pick a book then sits with me. Much better than jumping in his cot!!

Also he wouldn't sit straight away at dinnertime today so I did what you said and just started my dinner, I barely had a mouthful and he came running over and wanted to be in his chair! So thank you for the tip. Started the time outs too, he's not staying put on the chair but we're going to work at it and it's working in the sense its stopping his behaviour, I'm hoping that if I keep at it we'll have him sitting in the chair eventually!

I agree with you about the spanking, I think it just teaches them to hit especially at this age and I'm grateful that I've now got a few more tricks to use instead thanks to you which have worked well so far on DAY 1!

Nicole - posted on 06/03/2011

Sounds like you have a challenger! My daughter is 2 and has had some of these issues. For dinnertime, we always ask if she's hungry and if she says no, my husband and I always sit down to eat eitherway. We have a pretty open floor plan so we can see her playing in the kitchen or family room but she's a "Monkey see, Monkey do" kid right now so after a few minutes, she'll realize what we are doing and come and eat. It's a battle I don't care to fight but always make note that she didn't eat and offer a healthy snack before dinner. As for bedtime, I always put her to bed with the same routine. We go up 15 minutes early, snuggle on a chair with low light and read. When one of her nightlights goes off, she's learned that it's bedtime. Now, if she doesn't want to sit and snuggle with me, I tell her no books. I sit and wait and she will usually get the picture that I'm serious. Some nights she goes to bed with one quick night-night book and others she'll let me read the whole 15 minutes-some her choice books, and I have 3 bedtime books. As for the saying no all time, if he hits or whatever, it may be time to start timeouts. I put a chair in the middle of our kitchen and make her sit on it and explain what she's done wrong and why. I tell her to stop crying before she can get off and explain when she's quiet again what she did wrong. I don't hit/spank because if I don't want her to hit, what message do I send spanking her? I don't send her to her room because I want her to like her room and not associate it with a bad place to be. Like you I am working with my first child and these things have seemed to help. Good luck