The Crib: A Blog for New Parents

Posted by pecuellar on 04/16/08 - 05:40 PM

Is Baby feeling grumpy? Is your toddler feeling restless? Are your kids just annoying each other? Now is the perfect time to break out Mom’s #1 Secret tool: distraction. No matter the reason for the undesirable behavior distraction can help. When dealing with toddlers and babies it is more useful than discipline.

Case #1

You are trying to stretch out the intervals between feeding or correct a sleep schedule that is not working out for the rest of the family (like weaning the last middle of the night bottle).

Try a game of peek-a-boo or stick out your tongue and blow raspberries at baby. You both may lose track of time.

Case #2

The car ride home can be brutally boring for toddlers. Bored toddlers can be whiney and mischievous. Mine particularly likes to poke and annoy his little sister.

Keep a stash of car friendly books and toys handy, but not always available. The toys will keep some of their novelty if they are used less often. Also, try a family sing-a-long. Don’t be scared to get a little silly.

Try it out. It may take some fine tuning but you will find that the tool of distraction is one of the most powerful and successful ones in your arsenal.