Toddlerdom

 The golden age of toddlerdom.

It's messy and noisy. 

So many tantrums and screaming. 

Sleep regressions and pushing boundaries. 

They have tasted independence, and they want more.

They're experiencing every emotion under the sun all at once, at a very intense level. 

They also can distinguish between boredom and being kept amused.

My best advice at this stage is to give them some decisions to make and provide an engaging, organised environment.

You need to guide them quite strictly at this stage naturally as they're still learning a great deal about every single aspect of life. 

Yet try them and see how they respond to personal responsibility. Controlled choices where we as parents win no matter the decision. It means the whole world to them.

Do they want to wear the red or blue dress?

Do they want peas or carrots?

Do they want milk or water?

Do they want a chocolate or a sweetie?

Do they want the red or the blue cup?

The Thomas or the Peppa pig plate?

It's an extra step from you that takes barely a few minutes across the day. However, it can help reduce the number of emotional overloads they may have in a day. 

You won't know if they're ready for this step until you ask them the question.

The next step is for them to ask you for a particular outfit, plate, or dinner choice. Keep working as a team and respect their requests, and they will learn to respect your decisions if you offer an explanation along with it. 

Another way we can help to lower the emotional overloads is to help them organise their mind, through organising their spaces and toys. 

You can achieve this either by setting up zones if space allows throughout the house, or at least in baskets or toy chests. 

Keeping every toy together in a heap can cause stress and an inability to focus on playing. 

Keeping zones help them to focus on the themes at question. 

Examples could include:

- A dress up corner.

- A book case with some snuggly chairs.

- A cosy den with some mood stars or toys where they can process their feelings.

- A table and chair with some craft drawers.

- A roleplay section

- Interactive toys

- Themed baskets of bricks, animals, etc

They can be given the freedom to sort these baskets or areas, for optimal playing opportunities.

Sophia could never play in an environment which I set up. She had to reorder it before she could concentrate to play. We now know it's because we have different brains from one another. We would both get frustrated with each other not understanding why it wasn't working. I was too controlling, and we weren't on the same page.