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Experts recommended that you "manage" your child's behavior during this stage of life. Managing means planning ahead and conditioning your child's environment. Child proof the rooms where your child spends his time. It is okay to make certain rooms off limits (and put grandma’s vase in them). Look at your local children’s store for products specifically made for this purpose.

Management also means anticipating problems before they occur. Why take a two year old to a crowded movie theater when you know that they will start to squirm, wriggle and cry after only a few minutes. Remember that your child is only able to handle what his little body and mind have developed to; so know what you can expect from him.

Another way to manage your toddler’s behavior is redirection. This is the best behavior management technique for toddlers because they have limited language, understanding, and thankfully, attention spans. Try exchanging something else interesting for grandma’s antique vase (then hide it away). Pull out a favorite book and invite him to sit with you when you feel a tantrum coming on. If all else fails, sing a song and do a jig around the room; he’ll be so surprised he’ll forget why he was upset!

For more ideas on managing your child’s behavior, try one of these articles:

Managing Toddlers
Mastering Potty Training
Temper Tantrum Solutions
The Stages of Sharing
When Children Bite

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Toddlers love to challenge. Before reaching this stage of development, the toddler was the constant center of attention in the house because he or she was an infant and required intensive care, love and devotion. As walking and exploring begin to take place, parents begin to separate themselves more and more from the toddler and the child begins to discover their own little world. Exploration is wonderful and terrifying. It can be wonderful as the child begins to experiment and manipulate objects within their reach for the first time (for example, holding their own spoon). It can be terrifying when they pick up your grandmother’s antique porcelain vase and start running around the room.

Naturally, your first reaction is to immediately try to stop the dangerous behavior, chaos and destruction in the house by physically stopping your future track star. This tends to lead to yelling, kicking, and other behavior representative of the famous “toddler tantrum.” Stop exhausting yourself by following your child throughout the house preventing mayhem.