5 Ways To Make The Terrible Twos Easier

My son is in the thick of the terrible twos. He can be my sweet little boy one minute, and on the ground throwing the world's greatest tantrum in the middle of the grocery store the next. He can be stubborn. "No" is his new favorite word. Sometimes he'll want something, and when I go to give it to him, he'll insist on wanting something else.

I'm pulling my hair out!

But a lot of the horrors of the terrible twos can be mitigated with a few easy methods I've learned over the last six months.

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1. Keep your toddler busy. Boredom causes toddlers to act out because they want interaction and stimulation. When I let my son run around outside and play on our newly built playground (more about that in a future post), he's usually well behaved. He'll still get himself into trouble, but I can usually regain my sanity while he's outside.

2. Know your toddler's triggers. I know if my son sees a pack of gum laying around, he'll want it. If he doesn't get it, then I get to deal with a temper tantrum. My solution is to keep the gum hidden. The "out of sight, out of mind" rule applies perfectly for the terrible twos.

I know not all triggers will be some object laying around your child wants. Sometimes it's situational. My point remains the same, though. Once you know his/her triggers, you can take steps to minimize them.

3. Quiet time. He stopped napping shortly after the New Year. It was my worst nightmare come true. But now we have something called quiet time where we both sit on the couch with his favorite tv show on. Generally it lasts about an hour, sometimes more, depending on my mood.

These quiet times give him a chance to decompress a little and relax. It also gives me time to relax as well. Many parents I know have a "quiet time" policy with their child who won't nap.

4. Snacks. Believe it or not having access to healthy snacks throughout the day can make a big difference in how he behaves. It's pretty simple: When he's not hungry, he's generally pretty happy.

Remember the times when you get hungry? You start to feel agitated. The blood sugar drop might make you feel a little sick. All this makes it real easy for you to get into a bad mood. Toddlers are no different.

I'm not suggesting you stuff their faces all day. Just make sure they can have some snacks between meals. I give my son everything from baby carrots, to grabes, cut up strawberries and maybe even some candy if he's been extra good. Variety is the key.

5. Sleep. I know you don't have complete control over this. Some toddlers aren't good sleepers. Sometimes you child gets sick or for one reason or another, doesn't get a good night sleep. There are tons of books out there on getting babies/toddlers to sleep more, so I'm not going to dive into that subject here.a

A tired toddler is a cranky toddler. Making sure he/she is getting enough rest is crucial to lessening the effects of the dreaded terrible twos.

The above suggestions are by no means the cure-all for the terrible twos and won't deflect all temper tantrums. But I've found they do help my son stay happy throughout the day. And when he's happy, I'm happy.

Back to Blogging After Brief Hiatus

I know I've been MIA the last several months, and I apologize. Things have been hectic and I didn't have a lot of time to devote to Brad the Dad.

But now I feel like things have smoothed out a little and I'm ready to once again impart my infinite parenting wisdom on the world.

So stay tuned because I'm coming back.

Thanks for reading!

Brad

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