Aggressive toddlers

"Fighting Kids at the Cry Event" by Madhan Kumar B S is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

There is so much said and written about toddlers behavior. I think that one of the most impactful aspects of your baby’s sudden tough behavior might be the disalignment between the “ideal baby” we had in mind, the ideal we had on how to raise him/her…and the real child, the one that is challenging us right now. Apart from knowledge on child development, it is very important to educate ourselves to focus on helping kids to respond to their emotions in healthy and non-hurtful ways. In this post you will find a lot of practical and down-to-earth advice. The article is quite long, in a nutshell it recommends to:

  • Observe and learn, no child or family is the same

  • Respond to your child based on your best understanding of the behavior

  • Help your older toddler (2 ½ to 3 years), who is beginning to understand logic and rational thinking, learn from his actions

I really appreciated the recommendation of avoiding negotiation for everything, as giving some non-negotiable rules makes children feel safe and help them build an idea of logic and consistency in their world.

Thank you to Zero to Three

Valeria Giannuzzi

Valeria Giannuzzi, PhD, is Clinical and Community Psychologist, Social Sciences Researcher and Co-Founder of The Hug Support Group CIC. She is specialised in migrants’ integration, community development, women and parents support. Mom of a 19 months old son.

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