Understanding toddlers behaviour

Understanding toddler’s behaviour can make all the difference

As babies begin to grow up and start turning into a toddler this is when the fun begins and you hear the phrase “Wait till go they go through the terrible two’s” Understanding toddlers behaviour is often the reason why children get labelled as going through the terrible two’s. As toddlers are on the journey of discovering this is when they are going to be displaying many types of behaviours as they learn about choices and consequences.

How toddlers develop

As babies start to get more mobile they become more inquisitive and are eager to explore their surroundings, this is when they begin to have more control over their body. Toddlers love to climb, jump off objects giving adults a scare or two, but this is when they are unaware of their level of strength and have very little fear. At this point in toddlers development, they are not doing this on purpose to frustrate you, they are testing out what their bodies can do. To help children during this exploring stage, why not find some space either outside or inside that children can safely explore the surrounding. It can be very easy to keep telling children to get down or don’t do that but knowing that this is part of their development will help change adult’s mindset and find positive ways of dealing with these situations.

Using their senses to explore their surroundings

This is a time when toddlers are more likely to display some challenging behaviours as they are love to explore using their senses. You may find that they are eager to taste non-food items such as eating a handful of sand whilst playing in the sand tray. To children, this is all about exploring but for adults, this can be frustrating. Recognising this stage in toddler’s development can enable you to provide sensory exploration opportunities. Having this available to toddlers will help them develop their sense of exploration with boundaries and for adults in can help deal with those challenging behaviours.

Understanding expectations

As toddler’s brains are still developing they can only really understanding things that they can see or touch, they find it increasing difficult to understand concepts. As well as trying to understand difference concepts children are trying to deal with mixed emotions. Toddlers find it hard to process these emotions and don’t fully understand the reasoning behind why they display them. Handling these mixed emotions can be difficult for adults as sometimes they automatically think the child is having a tantrum when in fact the message they are trying to get across may be that they are tired or hungry. If toddlers have very little language this can play a huge part in toddler’s behaviour. They are unable to communicate their frustration leading to the possibility of an outbreak of a tantrum. When setting expectations be clear and use simple language and following a routine can help toddlers to know what is coming next. It is good practice to give advance warnings as children don’t understand about the concept of time, keep everything very simple as children have very limited understanding of what you expect of them.

Developing independence

Until children start to develop independence adults are the ones in control, they tell children what to eat what to where and what to do. As children are approaching the stage of developing independence this is when it can get frustrating for toddlers, especially when told what to eat or what to wear, leading to some tantrums. Recognising toddler’s independence can help when trying to get toddlers to do something as you can change your approach eg giving them choices. Giving children choices enables them to have some control of what they want to do eat, when in fact it is still set within adult’s boundaries. Adults shouldn’t be afraid to say no to children as there is no harm in children learning that they cannot have anything they want.  By saying no to toddlers yes it can lead to a tantrum, but by approaching this tantrum in a calm, reassuring manner can help diffuse the situation. Try holding the child until they calm down, if the toddler becomes more upset then sit by the side of them and talk to them. It is very easy to become frustrated in these situations and begin to raise your voice, if you feel this is happening give yourself a few minutes breathing space and then when you are fully focused return to dealing with the child.

It is important to understand that when toddlers are displaying challenging behaviour they are doing this because they are exploring their world around them. They are becoming inquisitive and are at the stage of exploring. Their little brains are beginning to develop further leading to them testing their abilities and limits.