The Lily Cafe is thrilled to present mom of a toddler Kristy from Coffee & PJs, a special guest here to talk about her experience with toddlerhood.
I really don’t have great how-to-survive the toddler years advice. Most people will give you a ton of reasons why the toddler years are so miserable and how they can’t get through it. If you are looking for that type of blog, this isn’t it. The realty is that we all go through different stages in our lives from infancy to our senior years. Once your toddler is done with the toddler years, they will be in another stage of life.
So, what advice would I give?
Stop hammering on how bad toddlers can be.
My daughter Katie just turned three, and I have already been warned by several people to brace myself for the horrid three-year-old years. Poor girl, she doesn’t even get a chance to be three without people labeling her. I’m sure once she turns five, I will be warned about another stage, and then just wait ‘till she is a teenager!
Toddlers have their good days and their bad days just like all of us. Yes, there are times when I become impatient with Katie. I’ve dealt with random tantrums, the obsession with My Little Ponies, and I’m now dealing with the “I won’t eat anything, but yogurt covered cranberries” stage.
However, I know several adults who are going through some pretty strange stages too. The road rage tantrums, the obsession with Hallmark movies, and the I won’t eat anything if it’s gluten stage.
I think my point is – give toddlers a break. Stop labeling them all the time as cranky little people. Embrace the toddler years and get through the hard times. One day, you will look back and miss those tiny little arms that embraced you in a hug, the cuddling on the couch while watching another episode of My Little Ponies, or/and how tiny they were as they road their tricycle around the yard.
It won’t be long and the hugs may decrease, they will grow out of their cartoons, and they will be driving around in their own car. They really do grow up in a blink of an eye, and you can’t redo these years. Give them a break and let them grow and develop without all the labels.
Thank you, Kristy, for this lovely take on toddlerhood! For more awesome stories from this lovely lady, check out her wonderful blog Coffee & PJs!
The Lily Cafe 
I love this! It’s so true!
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It is, isn’t it? Kristy certainty wrote an awesome post!
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She really did 🙂
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YES YES YES!!!! I feel so deeply that toddlers get “such a bad rep” and that their curiosity/testing/experimenting is mistaken so often for “naughty” behavior. Even myself, when mines doing something, er, frustrating I always try to ask myself okay is she learning or is she testing, rather than disobeying. And yeah, sometimes she’s disobeying and that’s corrected, but most of the time she just needs some redirection!! – K
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Yes! Kristy has definitely written an amazing post! As parents we need to remember toddlers are just short people and could use all the guidance we can give them. They’re not terrible; they’re just exploring and discovering themselves! Not too unlike the college student who changes majors 10 times and spends 6 years in school.
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I personally hate all the “wait until…” phrases. They drive me nuts. Like a friend of mine whose son just turned 2 and is very energetic to be nicest in the description, has told me like 500 times ‘wait till she crawls’, ‘wait till she doesn’t feel like eating everything you give her’, ‘wait till she starts to walk’, ‘wait till all she wants is you and you cannot do anything around the house.
Now, I don’t want to bash the woman because i know that sometimes you can do all the necessary talking and raising and your kid will still be, let’s be honest, a little devil who won’t listen to any reasoning 🙂
Like you said though, kids just like adults, do have good and bad days! I also think that communication is a key, if you talk to your kid a lot, all the way from the beginning it can save lots of issues.
I have dealt with toddlers in my family, and I know that once you have an upset toddler on your hands it can be very challenging to calm them down, but it’s not impossible 🙂
Labeling all toddlers as unmanageable is not fair 🙂 All kids are different, just like all people are too, and each kid will need a different approach 🙂
That is my opinion, let’s see how I deal with my baby girl once she is a toddler 🙂 She has my temper so it can be a tough one 😀
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Kristy has definitely written an amazing post! Besides every child is different. I’ve seen well-behaved toddlers and toddlers who are anything but. We just need to remember they are little people and if we can act a certain way and have our an tantrums then so can they. Nothing wrong with letting a little steam out. And, definitely, communication is important! Toddlers understand a lot more than most people give them credit for. We should do them a favor and talk to them like their emotional and mental states matter instead of trying to control them just so they are always perfectly behaved (which is total nonsense!).
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Love this! I’ve been warned of so many stages already and my son is only 1! It’s like we hate kids in America!
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Too true! Kids are awesome little people, but I think not enough people have the patience for them. Which is sad because they are so awesome. Enjoy the toddler years! Personally, I think they’re the best, full of humor, head scratching, and tons of love!
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I think we are all guilty of saying our toddlers are ‘always cranky’ at some point. Great advice though, thanks
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This is fantastic, isn’t it? I’m so glad Kristy was able to share this. Though I’m sure our toddlers would probably also say mom and dad are always cranky, too!
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