They’re called the terrible twos for a reason. Now that your child is learning to walk and talk, they’re also probably developing a bit of an attitude, and new skills at voicing it. According to Psychology Today, toddlers are curious and newly able to explore their independence, but at the same time, they can’t communicate any of their wide range of feelings and emotions effectively. As a bonus, they also lack self-control.
Enter: discipline. But how do you discipline a toddler? Many parents are afraid that the way they choose to discipline their child could impact them negatively as they grow older. We don’t want to instill fear and aggression into our toddlers. At the same time, we definitely don’t want them to let them get away with throwing their applesauce at our heads. Here’s what the experts have to say about disciplining your child.
Disciplining a toddler: Things to consider
Is it harmful to spank my toddler?
When disciplining our children comes up, most of us think back onto the age-old method of spanking and time-outs. These days, many parents are uncomfortable with these methods as being too harsh for their child’s emotional development. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics announced in 2018 that spanking is ill-advised and harmful to children. The organization looked into multiple studies to come to this conclusion. They found spanking to negatively impact the parts of the brain that deal with social cognition and people’s IQs.
“In terms of conflict resolution, spankings and time-outs do nothing to solve the problem and they're not tools a child can use when someone isn't listening to them,” Ford said. “They may stop the behavior in the short term but do nothing to teach a child how to act instead.”
Instead, focus on empathy and understanding your child’s stage in development, Dr. Vincent J. Palusci, a pediatrician specializing in child protection at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone, told the New York Times.
