How To Discipline Your Toddler: 1-3 Years

Your toddler will naturally be curious about a lot of things in life, that will occasionally get her into trouble. Don’t get upset all the time, because they are learning about the world they live in, and it is called experimentation. What they need is guidance from you to learn what’s right and what’s wrong. Discipline at this age, needs to focus on positive reinforcement.

How to discipline

Be patient as you teach new skills, give lots of praise when they do the right thing.
When they want to do something you don’t want them to do, try distracting them with a new activity rather than repeating “No!”
Don’t get into battles with your toddler, you will not win.
You will need to show and remind your toddler of the behaviour that is right many times before they will do that
Your toddler will not understand punishment at this age, so firmly stop the action, rather than punish or shout
If your toddler repeatedly defies you and is placing themselves in a dangerous situation, you need to physically pick them up and remove them.

Important notes to remember:

Discipline is not about punishment – it’s about guidance and positive reinforcement
Sometimes, in order to win the war, you have to lose a battle or two. Pick the battles you need to win, let the harmless ones go
While there must be rules and consequences for breaking rules, don’t dish out punishment that is extreme – by doing this, you risk your child forgetting the reason for the punishment, but only remembering the punishment itself
Assess your expectations – is it reasonable for you to expect your toddler to behave in the manner you do? No, they will grow into being cognitive of their actions in due time
Always use discipline in a way that will teach your child effectively