Two Year Old Crying

You're doing it right. It may help to then provide a distraction after the monkey doll falls, she cries and you model her stating her feelings. Something like - now that monkey is ok, maybe he wants to play (whatever she plays with him). We also occasionally tried - giving DS a time frame. Something like, I see you are sad you can't play with the phone, you can cry for 2 minutes and then it will be time to (do something fun here). If the crying itself is horribly loud or she is screaming I think it is ok to have her modulate the volume. I think it gets better as she gets older no matter what you do.

When my kids would cry for little or no reason (usually as a bid for my attention) I would look at them an say "you must be very tired"' and put them down for quiet time. Check up on them in 10-15 min. and they would either be asleep or calmed down. After a while the crying episodes slowed down and they saved their tears for more important occatiions.

If you are sure that there is not a physical reason for the crying...ear infection, cutting teeth, etc...then the distraction and reasoning with her is really the best thing to do. Please do NOT put her in bed or "time out" and tell her she can "come out when she is ready to settle down". She needs you to help her deal with this volcano of feelings and emotions that she is trying to hard to get control of!!! Continue to acknowledge her feelings...and maybe you could use a particularly successful method that my daughter uses with her 3 year old son....she distracts with HUMOR....I am not sure but I think the method is found in "Playful Parenting"...a book that she really has found to be helpful. For instance...our younger grandson ( 14 months) was starting to "melt down" the other day because Mama ( my middle daughter) was needed to leave for a few minutes to go and get something. His aunt started playing an elaborate, ridiculous, game of peek-a-boo with him...lifting him up from behind a chair with EXAGGERATED motions...and I was on the other side of the chair...peeking at him. It worked like magic...he was suddenly giggling instead of crying...and in about 30 seconds...the melt down was forgotten and he was his happy little self again. She uses this a dozen times a day on her son, when the melt downs seem to have to real concrete reason that she can address. She still uses acknowledment of his feelings, comfort etc when there is an obvious cause of his upset..but when it is because "the sky is blue instead of yellow polka dots"...the playful intervention works a lot of time.
She has also been known to tell him..when NOTHING works...."I am so sorry you are sad...I wish there was something I could do...but you know I love you very much"....sometimes nothing works...we just have to let them melt down...and we have to be there to provide that "safety net" for them.
Keep in mind....."this too shall pass"...I promise you..it won't last forever!!!

I think it's just the age. My two year old twins are like this, too. You're doing the right thing by acknowledging her feelings. I'm hoping they will just grow out of it!

Lots of kids are like this, it doesn't mean there is anything "wrong". Crying like this is definetly more emotionally immature and its a form of a tantrum. If she is tired then try to work through it but if she is doing it for no "real" reason then validate her feelings and then either try to redirect or just leave the room. She is getting too much attention for her crying.

Happiest Toddler on the Block-

check it out-

has great methods for dealing with that sort of thing.

good luck~

have you checked her ears? she sounds like a normal sick not feeling good kid that cries at the drop of a hat. all kids cry easily when they dont feel good.and at that age they cant always say i dont feel good to a level you understand it. its just easier to cry than to explain i dont feel good.

First of all, all two year olds that I know have gone through this including my daughter.

One thing that I used to do is go in a "calm down timeout". This is very different than a regular timeout because it is not for punishment and the parent goes with the child. I used it when she was very upset and just couldn't calm down.

I would find a corner and sitting her in my lap, we would both face the wall. I would have my arms around her for comfort but we wouldn't talk. Facing the wall would limit the amount of distraction and we would just focus on our breathing. When she calmed down and stopped crying I would talk calmly to her about why she was upset. Every child is different, but this seemed to work like a charm with my daughter.

My daughter is now three and even though she sometimes gets overly upset. She has learned to take a step back, take a deep breath, and calm herself down enough to where she can talk to me about her problem.

If reasoning and redirecting dont work, lay her in her bed and tell her she can get up when she finishes crying.