approaching the second year of our life as parents

Some time next month, my toddler will be two years old. Wow, I am really looking forward to year two of our life as parents even though they say that one of the hardest times in the life of parents is when the child turns two years old because it will be a time where the parents' patience and tolerance will be tested in terms of their ability in dealing with and managing toddler tantrums and other irritating to unpleasant behavior. In fact, I had mentioned in my previous post that we already started dealing with her occasional tantrums. I guess it came early, huh!

One thing I noticed about our toddler these days is that she's all prim and proper when we're outside the house. I mean she wouldn't show off any signs of being cranky except when we're at home. I guess she knows how to place herself. My analysis was that she's really just too comfortable in showing her crankiness only with us.  Her crankiness doesn't happen too often, though. Most of the time she's lovable, sweet and clingy (trying not to sound like a defensive parent here).

How about you guys, care to share your toddler's manifestation of unpleasant or irritating behavior? How do you deal with it?


Anyway, I've been meaning to share this video of my toddler when she first learned to love a Justin Bieber song. I just love the way she had obediently sang her part here. :-)

on self-control, success and modeling the behavior you want

I just read an interesting article today linking self-control behavior to success. Research has it that toddlers at the age of three who had a lot more self-control are likely to end up healthier and more successful when reaching adulthood.

The research and findings make a lot of sense to me because self-control teaches a child to become more disciplined when it comes to the way he would handle his life and in coming up with sound decisions later on that will truly impact his future.

We all learned that the toddler years are the formative years of a child. This is why, as much as possible, parents should be there for their children to nurture and guide them especially at this stage in their lives.

Not tolerating and learning how to manage a toddler's temper tantrums, for example, is very important in teaching a child that he cannot always get what he wants by displaying anger and improper behavior.

Right now, whenever our toddler wants something done her way and shows her tantrums by crying almost uncontrollably, we would not try to pacify her crying by giving in to her wishes. If it's not something we approve of, it's definitely non-negotiable. However, since she's not even reached the age of two, we make it a point to distract her into doing activities that she would also like to do eventually.

Self-control is also important for parents. Even though it is already very tempting to yell at every irritating situation, parents should practice holding on to their anger in front of the child. Modeling the behavior you want is even most important.