Toddler Discipline Techniques for Stressed Parents

It is said that positive words can nurture while negative words can destroy. This is very true when disciplining a toddler. Be careful not to label your toddler as naughty, bad, dumb or any other negative description. He will tend to believe that it is true and can have lasting effect on him psychologically.

Parents must choose the correct words, which is to always speak in positive terms.
Normally, if your toddler is jumping on the sofa, what you say is something like "stop jumping!". Instead, you can say "Please sit on the sofa". You will have a higher success because of the way the unconscious mind processes sentences. Adults are like being told what we can do than what we shouldn't do. This goes the same with your toddlers.

One toddler discipline technique that can be effective is to establish threat and punishment. Threats should be realistic that toddlers will really believe that it can happen. If your toddlers is not eating properly and just throwing his food on the dinner table, what you can say is "If you do that again, I will not let you watch your favorite show later" or "No cookies for you, you will just stay in your room".

Parents need to be consistent in giving threat and punishment. Otherwise, toddlers will not follow your orders as they will think parents are bluffing and they will just repeat the problematic behavior over and over again.

Emotions should be out of the equation when parents give out punishment. No yelling is needed. An explanation in a firm tone voice will provide a much stronger effective result.

Normally, stressed parents cannot control yelling at their toddlers. What most parents fail to realize is that yelling or raising your voice is not effective in disciplining toddlers. The more you yell, the more your toddler will not listen. Instead of yelling, parents can be creative and can use a variety of language tricks that can be incorporated on everyday conversation with your toddler.

Situation 1: If you want your toddler to do something, like eat lunch while he is busy playing with his toy, minus the temper tantrums, you first need to enter your toddler's play world. Show that you are interested with what he is playing by asking him questions to show your enthusiasm and saying things like "this is indeed fun to play with". Next you can say, "I would love to play this toy with you after eating our lunch. Do you want to help me prepare your spaghetti on the table or do you want to help me toast your bread?" Notice that after entering your toddler's world, you then gave him two options that are effectively the same: to get him to the table for lunch.

Situation 2: You want your toddler to clean up his toys but he is not interested in doing it. You can say "I wonder how fast you can put the toys back to the box? Can you do finish it before I get back from the kitchen or am I going to be faster than you?" This will make your toddler not only interested but also challenged to act fast.