18 Month Old???

Everything you mentioned sounds very familiar to me, except for the second child. My son is 22 months, he does get time outs when appropriate. My pediatrician told us to start around 18 months, one minute per year of their life. Sometimes he cries through the entire time out, and sometimes he doesn't, sometimes he tries to get up, but mostly he doesn't. If he does something wrong, we'll let him know and he'll get 3 chances unless it's something really bad like smacking me in the face. If that happens he goes right into a time out! After the second warning we tell him that he's going to get a time out if he does it again, usually he won't do it again (but that's after a couple months of time outs). If you are going to try time outs, you have to do it the second they do something wrong or they won't remember.

When putting your child in a time out, make sure you are telling her why she is getting a time out and stress that they can't do that. She may try to get up the first couple times, just let her know that she's on a time out and she has to stay there, keep putting her back in that spot. Let her sit there for a minute to a minute and a half, and then go to her and tell her it's ok but remind her why she was put in a time out. It's not hurting her, and she'll start to understand if you are consistent. Like I said, we have been doing this since my son was 18 months.

Sounds like the terrible two's are starting early in your house, as well as ours! I have a 22 mos. old daughter, and she goes through her really trying times as well. In our case alot of our problems were due to teething making her cranky & unruly. I have to think "part" of this issue is jealousy of the new baby. I know even at this young age, if I hold my daughter's baby doll & rock it etc., she will get very upset that my attention is on the baby & not on her! At this age it's all.. ME... ME.. ME.. that's really all toddlers care about. As far as discipline, it depends on the severity of what she's doing. My daughter occasionally goes to time outs in her room, or we just redirect her attention by saying, "Mommy doesn't want you playing in the fireplace, lets go get your doll instead". It works EVERY time with her. As she gets older, we will definitely use the time out when she understands things better. Good luck to you & hang in there, it will get better! :)

Welcome to the terrible twos! I have a 17month old that is increasingly difficult to deal with (I'm also 23 weeks pregnant and short on patience!).

I tell my daughter no, and if she persists, I then tell her that if she keeps doing X, Y or Z, that she will either have to go down for her nap or go into her play pen.

She has taken to jumping on the couch when I am trying to read to her before putting her down for naps, etc. so just telling her 'no book, bed now," sometimes gets her to calm down. I do find that distraction does work the best. So today, when she started up, I took her lovey toy and read to him. She then got interested, and when I asked if she wanted to sit with us, she was excited to.

I don't believe in time outs, but I will put her in her play pen if she persists in what she is doing after I've asked her multiple times to stop. Frequently just telling her she will have to go to her play pen and play alone works to get her to stop.

I have found a parenting website called www.raisinggodlytomatoes.com I don't know that I agree with all of her ideas for babies, but think it's good for 18 mths and up. Also, keep up the nap! My 5 year old still has rest time, although she doesn't sleep.

Hi,

I disagree with the pediatrition (ps. they are not developmental educators) about the time ours at 18 mos. because I had early developers that needed one. I do not use them often ( use other techniques too) and try to redirect at that age, but when there were things like hitting a time out or cooling off period is waranted. 1 1/2 minutes is age appropriate. For the "mine" take time modeling sharing by playing over several days. For the no, start practicing a time out and make sure you get at thier level and tell the child that no is not ok, so the time out can be modified by starting with a shorter period of time, but again make sure you model what you want for the time out by getting involved by showing them what it means to be in time out (train the child). Include a part where they able to articulate back to you (you may need the child to repeat after you why they were in time out at this age-mine could do it on their own because they were early talkers-yeah me:)and then tell them you them. Time outs are for cooling off and support retraining of a behavior that you want so, as they get older you can talk about what the disered behavior is (don't get word-be specific). Ps. they will not like being there:)You will have to hold the child there when they are first learning for a minute and use the time to teach the child to calm down (remain calm:)

18 mos. is the age where it is really common to have a tempertantrum let them have it safely:)

Hang in there!