Disciplining a 26 month year old boy

[southside852]

I would love some advice on how you've begun to discipline a 2 year old. Our son can say some 2 words together, but it still learning a lot of vocab. It's still hard to communicate with him, but it's coming along slowly.

We've now come to the point where he defiintely needs some disciplining. As of now, when I disapprove of something he has done, I get down to his level and explain why I am upset in a tone that is different. If he does it again, I say "no" and totally gets that I am angry, but that's kind of all we do. We're trying to teach him the word "sorry," but so far it's not really working.

any suggestions on what my first steps should be for a child who is not quite verbal, but understands tones and when we are upset. We want to do time-outs, but my concern is that he'll just get up from where we put him.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

[aussie mum]

I started time-outs with my second child when he was 12 or 13months old. it helped that he'd seen his brother disciplined in the same way so he 'got it' sooner than he may have otherwise but my point is that I don't think they need to be all that verbal. they understand A LOT. I used time out with my eldest from about 21 months.
It is frustrating at first as they get up a million times but they do eventually get the idea. have you ever watched an episode of super-nanny? i was addicted to that show for a while. its great for learning ways to implement discipline with kids of different ages and temperaments.

good luck!

[southside852]

Our little one has no sibling yet to model after. So when your son got up a million times, did you just put him back?

[Frenchy]

Our son is 27 months and time out is what worked the best. At the beginning, we would just put him back, again and again. It didn't take him too long to understand, and we would tell him that he could get up when he is ready to calm down and say sorry. And that's what he is doing, it took maybe 2 weeks. The point is to be very consistant, like we don't want him to hit, pinch, and kick. So everytime was a time out, each single time, and it really worked well.

[peainpod]

I have a similar problem with our (soon to be) 2 year old son. I agree with the other posters that while they are not so verbal themselves, they definitely do understand most everything that's going on around them and pretty much knows what the score is.

I started doing some time out with mine but with mixed success. (I actually went out and bought a Time-Out pad from mothercare (which allows you to set the time - up to 5 mins - and comes with red/amber/green light and a buzzer that goes off if he gets up before). Not sure how useful it really is. My son will sit on it but seems to treat it more like a game. Now I'm not sure whether I should just let him sit in a boring old corner instead!~

I find that repetition really helps. I try to train him to do the same tasks (easy things like bringing his cup back to the kitchen etc) in hopes that it will introduce him to the concept of obedience. And yes, it is definitely important to be consistent. I try to stick to my guns so when I say "no" to something, I won't give in, even if it means a long period of tantrums and whining.

One thing I am finding is my son is reacting VERY badly to the word "no". It is very tiring and makes me v apprehensive when I have to say it... but sometimes there's just no choice, right?!

[yonge]

I found that signing worked really well in teaching our son manners when he wasn't verbal yet. We only taught, "Please", "More", "Thank You" and "Sorry", but he understood them all. What is interesting was that when he was disciplined and we wanted him to say, "Sorry", he would initially resist, but would eventually relent by making the appropriate sign. He continued to do this even after he was verbal for a full months. Clearly, adults are not the only one that have a hard time with the word, "Sorry!"

[starbucks2]

We do time outs for our almost 2 year old and I was so surprised that he never gets up from the time out spot. And it has successfully worked in different locations too. Now I only have to threaten time out and most of the time the behaviour stops. Would suggest you have a look at the Supernanny website as it is helpful for time out advice. We threaten time out/warn twice and then he goes into time out with an explanation of why on the third time. If he hits then there is only one warning. He spends 1 min for every year of his age in time out (so currently 1 min). When I go and get him at the end I get down to his level and say no hitting and get him to hug me sorry (he doesn't yet know the word sorry). Our time out spot has been a variety of places but at home it is on the stairs.

Good luck. It takes time but I think time outs do work and you might be surprised that he doesn't get up from the time out/naughty spot - my son certainly doesn't and I was surprised.

SB2