What are some good discipline techniques for a 2 yr old? Time out & spanking haven't worked.

Jennifer - posted on 01/07/2010

If i am going to the store and I expect her to behave a certain way I found that if you talk to them and give them warning they tend to act good.. For exampole if we are going to our local wal mart I tell Amber(2) that we are going to wal mart and then why we are going and what we are getting and that mommy expects her to be good and then i tell her if she does be goo when we go home mommy will give her a sticker to play with because she loves stickers.. And unless she is tired she doent give me any problems... I thought that if someone just put me in the car and took me somewhere that I wouldnt want to behave because maybe I didnt want to go.. So I incorperated it into telling her what was going on and what we were getting so she knew where we were going what we were getting what behavior was expected and what her reward is going to be then she has a sence of being included in the decision making and we get along great and she looks forward to the reward.. So in the morning when you get up with her or him have a conversation and map out your day and keep reminding about a reward at the end of the day and shower them with comments every now and again through out the day

Toshia - posted on 01/07/2010

I do that with my son, he helps put clothes In & out of the dryer, put his dirty dishes in the sink, brings us things when we ask, & helps when he can with his new sister. I'm sure she has some to do with his behavior but he was acting out before. I count to 3 & if he doesn't correct his bad behavior I put him in time out. I have trouble keeping him there. We literally gave to restrain him for time out or he gets worse.

Sarah - posted on 01/07/2010

A book I really enjoyed reading is Love and Logic by Foster Cline and Jim Fey. There is one they made geared for toddlers also. It gives you some neat ideas. My daughter is a strong willed person that likes being in control (perfect for 2 yr old ;) ). From reading the book I learned how to come through the "back door" sort of speak. 1,2,3 magic is another one some people use. When 2 yr old is doing something wrong you count to three giving her a chance to correct the behavior. If by three the behavior is not corrected then magic happens (toy taken away, priv. lost, etc.). There are pros and cons with this one. I like giving the control to the child to make a choice, but sometimes I think waiting until I get to three is too long. Another con is that sometimes you find yourself holding out to get to three...saying 2 1/2, 2 3/4ths, etc, which is not good.



I have found that no matter what kind of techniques you use they will only work if you are consistant and follow through otherwise nothing is going to work. 2 I think is a hard age. I do day care and use the time-out techniques mostly. I have found that at 2 they tend to be in time-out A LOT. Some days if feels like that is where they have been most of the day. But by time they hit 3 yrs. we are rarely doing time-outs and usually all I have to say is if you continue you will have a time-out and the behavior stops. They have learned that I will follow through with that and that means then they won't be able to play for awhile, so they make a better choice (most of the time). One thing I try to do is to give them jobs to do. They feel like they are being big and they are all about independence. Some jobs would be helping me set the table or empty the dishwasher, helping me get laundry ready for washing, helping fold clothes (I would need to refold, but they had fun helping and they were learning), helping me dust things that were easy to dust.