Long before our daughter was born, I decided to be a stay-at-home-mom and I love it. I can’t say it’s always easy. Looking after a toddler requires lots and lots of energy. But then it also provides lots and lots of hugs and kisses!
As a first time mom, when my daughter was a newborn I wasn’t able to imagine her as 2 year or 3 year old little girl. She is almost 18 months old now and she’s turning into a little girl before our eyes.
It sounds like a cliché when people tell you that they grow so fast. I have now understood that it is so true!
Gone are the days when she’d sleep happily for hours in the sling. My daughter is a busy toddler now.
She enjoys climbing, giving mommy and daddy anxious moments. She loves looking into the drawers and cupboards and see if there is anything of interest.
She likes helping mommy when I’m cleaning the house.
She is interested to see and observe everything that happens in her environment. After some observation, she tries to mimic us.
I always try to respect her behaviors, but there can be times when I am not-so-patient. For example, last weekend we had a nice day out and about. It was time to go home. We were all very tired and hungry. As I was putting her in the Ergo,she was trying to take her flat feet footwear off which made me a bit angry. I didn’t show my feelings to her,but you know, I was grunting a bit.
Then I came across this article by Jan Hunt and I liked her analogy:
A two-year-old is a very curious person, always experimenting, always exploring. He is in fact, a scientist! And if you look at his activities in that way, it can change your perspective and allow creative ideas to emerge, making life easier for you and for him.
I’d like to suggest an exercise to try. For one day, picture him not as a small child, but rather as a visiting scientist. Pretend this scientist is staying at your home for a day. This person needs materials to use, needs time to do his research, and will need your assistance from time to time. If we had a visiting scientist at our house, wouldn’t we feel curious ourselves as to what he is doing, and wouldn’t we feel honored to be helping when we can? That’s exactly the right attitude to take with a busy toddler.
This shifted my perspective: My daughter had just discovered that it was very fun to take off the velcro straps of her shoes. She had no idea that I was hungry and tired. Being upset would only make me feel worse.
Instead of being frustrated with our children when we have very little time or patience, we should make time for honoring their activities.
This is a very special stage in their lives and we should join their “research” and feel as excited as them.
What great insight from Jan Hunt! I had not read that article. My house has a 9-month-old who just learned to walk and he’s a little scientist in his own way. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I’ve been trying to adopt this approach as well, although I found out about it via the Montessori method. It does make things a lot easier when you just let them be, and respect their need to explore their world. That is their ”job” really. And think how frustrated you would be if somebody kept interrupting you while you were trying to work.
Isil, I love this idea! Littlepixie has her nose in everything these days, so I must remember to help her in her experiments as much as possible! And you’re so right, getting annoyed only makes the mammy feel worse, it doesn’t stop the little scientist at all 🙂
Having read this I did look at my daughter completely differently over the last few days and it certainly helped my patience level. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks ladies,I’m glad you enjoyed my post 😉
This came at a great time as my patience is getting thinner and thinner with my 2yo DD. Tomorrow is a new day and I’m going to look at her differently! Thanks!
You’re welcome Heidi 😉