Listen to the child. Do what she asks some of the time. Set an eat and sleep schedule and stick to it. Sleepy hungry kids don’t obey very well. Talk about why our family does things (because it works better, we are smart, and we love each other). Tell your child what you want him to do clearly and give consequences (take a nap or we cannot go to the playground later). Try to do what you say you’ll do (no nap, no playground). Have a timeout chair, room, or corner where a chi

When we don’t understand what Carter is trying to say, we guess out loud. Would you like a cheese stick? I’ll take you out of the high chair. You must be finished eating. Are you looking for the ball? Your sneakers are blue. I think your diaper is dirty. Your dinosaur pajamas are so soft. Some scientists studied this. They say it is the right thing to do. Doesn’t hurt. They might be right.

My grandson, Carter, is almost two years old. He is ready to talk, but he doesn’t have words. He does listen very carefully. He understands a lot of our words. He uses body language to reply. This form of conversation takes a little more listening time. It does beat listening to him scream. Once I put the applesauce on his spoon and tried to feed it to him. He swatted it away. When I tried again, he screamed. When I put the spoon down, he picked it up and fed himself. This w

I was in a day care center observing a lovely teacher use play dough with a 2-year-old. They were having fun. It was a great experience for the two of them. The teacher said, “Pass it to me. Here is some. Roll it into a big ball. Put it over there.” The main problem was she didn’t know she had to give the child the word “playdough.” In 5 minutes she only said “playdough” 2 times. She used pronouns and pointed 44 times. She didn’t understand that she needed to give the child t