Age specific questions from about 1 year to about 3 years. Younger: infant. Older: pre-schooler.
11
votes
4answers
3k views
At what age do kids start sleeping through the night?
My son is now almost 12 months old and he still doesn't sleep through the night regularly. Maybe one night a month he will sleep from 7pm->6.30am without waking, and that's only if he's utterly ...
11
votes
7answers
218 views
How do we teach our 1 yr. old that “no” isn't a game?
We have a little girl that's almost 13 months old. She's found that when she touches a power cord or near an electrical outlet and we say "no" that it's a bit of a game. She gets a funny smirk on her ...
11
votes
6answers
7k views
How to handle a toddler does not want to fall asleep?
My 2½ year old son does not want to sleep, regardless how tired he is. He will do anything and everything he can think of, just to avoid falling asleep. It usually takes 1-1½ hours (sometimes even ...
11
votes
4answers
718 views
How not to lose patience with toddler
I am wondering how not to be harsh with a toddler. With all the love I have for my boy, I do lose patience and get angry with him once in a while! Any ideas on how to deal with such a situation.
11
votes
2answers
556 views
Toddler has a strong preference for one parent
Our almost 2 year old toddler has developed a strong preference for me. In mild doses, this was acceptable but it is getting pretty out of hand. She cries when my husband, her father, tries to hug ...
11
votes
7answers
766 views
Can you guide a toddler to learn specific words?
My 14 month old has a pretty good vocabulary for his age. However, it is a source of frustration for my wife that "mommy" (or some variation thereof) is not part of his vocabulary.
He says "daddy" ...
11
votes
3answers
481 views
How do I stop my daughter from hitting another child?
Recently my daughter started to hit another girl with whom she is currently sharing her nanny. My daughter is 2 years and 2 months now, the other child is 1 year 3 months. The nanny was our daughters ...
10
votes
8answers
1k views
How much time is too much time playing educational computer games?
I recently bought an iPad primarily for my 3-year-old daughter. I put nothing on it but educational apps and children's books. No YouTube, no Internet, no (non-educational) games. I've decided to let ...
10
votes
7answers
1k views
How do I cope with my toddler's jealousy towards her newborn brother and sister?
We had 2 adorable twins in January. Our older daughter is jealous of them and our life has become a nightmare. How can we address her jealousy and improve our situation?
10
votes
7answers
2k views
Plane activities for little ones
I am taking four children ages 2,3,4, and 8 on a 4+ hour plane ride. Ideas for entertaining them WITHOUT plugging them in for the entire time would be much appreciated. We have the basics, crayons, ...
10
votes
7answers
188 views
How and when do I teach my son to use chopsticks?
Even though I live in the U.S., I find using a fork inefficient and clumsy. I'd like to teach my son how to use chopsticks as an alternative.
What is the best way to do this without interfering with ...
10
votes
6answers
1k views
Is the “cry it out” approach harmful?
We have several questions on this site that deal with infants and toddlers who cry a lot, for various reasons. Here is an example question and example answer, another answer. The topic was raised on ...
10
votes
7answers
332 views
One room for each son, or one bedroom and one play room?
My family just +1'd itself. The newborn sleeps with us in the master bedroom for now, but we will move him when he's a few months old and no longer requires attention several times each night.
Our ...
10
votes
2answers
498 views
My Son thinks he is spiderman
My 3.5 year old son is obsessed with Spiderman comics, games and movies and he thinks he is spiderman, he even has a 'girlfriend' in school who he calls Mary Jane . Is this normal? Or should I be ...
10
votes
8answers
1k views
How do you stop a toddler from trying to get into bed with her parents in the middle of the night?
For a few weeks now my 2 year old daughter has woken up in the middle of the night crying for mom or dad. This started out when we took off her diaper and she would cry to go to the potty. She picked ...
10
votes
4answers
343 views
3 year old has a fit when arriving at daycare
My 36 month old boy will happily walk or ride on my bike to the creche (daycare), will lead me right up to the door of his room, as if he is looking forward to the day's activities. Then just as we ...
10
votes
4answers
661 views
How can I stop my toddler from having nightmares about robots?
When my son was one-and-a-half, my sister gave us a Wall.e Robot toy; it talks when you push buttons and moves back and forth. He loved it.
But all of a sudden a year later he has become terrified of ...
10
votes
2answers
537 views
Explaining to a toddler when masturbation is appropriate
Our toddler has discovered the joys of having her hand down the front of her panties. Frequently.
Now, we don't want to tell her that doing so is wrong, but we want to explain to her that there's an ...
9
votes
9answers
591 views
How can I get my toddler to eat as well for us as he does at daycare?
My son (currently 23 months old) attends an in-home daycare 5 days a week. The daycare provider cooks homemade meals for the kids, and provides snacks.
By every report she gives, our son gives her ...
9
votes
7answers
1k views
How can we make a long road trip pleasant for a toddler and the parents?
We're planning to drive to visit my family later this year. It is roughly a 10-11 hour drive if we go straight through (I'm planning on making fairly frequent stops, however, as I think it would be ...
9
votes
4answers
470 views
1 yr old boy prefers dad
I am the proud father of a little 1 yr old boy. My wife and I love him to pieces! A few months after his birth I suffered through a terrible bout of anxiety attacks. Turns out it was just my way of ...
9
votes
5answers
280 views
Should I encourage my 2½ year old to attempt to “read” his own stories?
My little boy is 2½ now, and has enjoyed being read to at bedtime since he was small.
But lately he's started refusing to be read to at all. Instead he says "No, I want to read it" and takes the ...
9
votes
5answers
1k views
What do we do if our children don't like the nanny?
So I just came back to work after a long discussion with our 4 year old. He complains (more to the effect, he had a meltdown) that he doesn't like our nanny, and would prefer to have our neighbour ...
9
votes
7answers
393 views
How do you wash a toddler's hands in a public restroom?
I find it quite hard to wash my toddler's hands in a public restroom which may have a very wet counter and otherwise be a bit dirty. It's hard to operate soap dispensers which require two hands to ...
9
votes
3answers
306 views
How can I pick my son up from daycare without a struggle?
My son is 26 months old, and goes to an in-home daycare with 5-6 other children.
He does very well there, and gets along with the other kids without serious problems (there are the conflicts over ...
9
votes
4answers
455 views
My toddler wants to watch the same shows over and over
My son (2 and a half) watches about 3-6 hours of television a week at home (usually closer to 3 than 6). However, most of that time is spent watching the same shows or movies time and time again.
We ...
9
votes
6answers
425 views
How to direct my one-year old baby not to do bad things
I have a one-year old baby, she is smart and loves to try everything and anything, including putting her fingers in the electricity and tasting every possible thing she finds :)
How can I tell my ...
9
votes
3answers
4k views
How do you teach young kids to defend themselves?
How do you teach kids to defend themselves, without becoming bullies? I'm talking about younger kids (1.5 to 3yo) who are not mature enough (or old enough) to take self-defense classes.
My son is two ...
9
votes
5answers
8k views
When should you worry about a toddler's loss of appetite and weight?
My 2 year-old seems to have lost her appetite in the last 3 to 4 weeks: she eats very little at meal times (couple of mouthfuls) and definitely much less than she used to. She does not seem to be ill, ...
9
votes
4answers
283 views
How to teach a toddler how to treat a book?
My son is nearing 2½ years, and he's got a big stack of picture books. He loves to turn the pages but doesn't take any care in doing so. That means the books are often torn and the spine bent so far ...
9
votes
3answers
3k views
Is it healthy for toddlers to play outside when it is cold?
Assuming the child is dressed properly and it isn't extremely cold (I'm thinking high 50ºF or 10ºC with wind). Their hands and face will be exposed and they may be sweaty from running around, but ...
9
votes
3answers
231 views
How to mitigate the impact of other people comparing my children to each other?
My husband and I have tried very hard to show both of our children that they are loved and cared for, and to encourage their own unique interests and to be proud of the individuals they are growing ...
9
votes
4answers
162 views
How to promote individual play for a toddler?
Does anyone have any tips on how to promote independent play, so our son will learn to (or get used to) play by himself?
Our son is quite a demanding child who is constantly asking us to play with ...
9
votes
3answers
614 views
How do you ween a toddler off of breastfeeding?
All sources I can find agree that breastfeeding should stop slowly and gradually, and most of them say that it often happens naturally once the baby gets used to solid foods. Well, with our baby it ...
9
votes
4answers
1k views
How can I switch an exclusively breastfed 1-year-old to food?
My 1 year old daughter eats very little. Infact she doesn't even drink bottled milk. Not to mention she hasn't gained much weight in the last couple of months. She mostly survives on mothers milk.
...
9
votes
1answer
169 views
When you don't think (grand)children are getting the care they need
My neigbor is now a grandmother of two little girls about whom she is very concerned.
Relevant backstory:
The grandmother/neighbor was an adict to multiple things while she raised the mother of the ...
9
votes
4answers
251 views
How do you introduce video games without pushing other activities into the background?
I am a gamer.
I enjoy playing video games, and they've been a part of my life since I was a kid.
I believe there are a lot of potential benefits from playing video games, and I want to be able to ...
8
votes
11answers
8k views
Should we discourage our toddler from taking sippy cups to bed?
Our 2 year old toddler has become quite attached to taking his sippy cup of milk to bed with him at bedtime.
We're concerned this will cause .. issues .. down the road with toilet training and ...
8
votes
9answers
4k views
How should we address stuttering in a toddler?
My 2.5 year old has recently developed what can be best described as a stutter.
It only seems to occur with us, and mostly when asking a question ("Wh, wh, wh, wh, what's that Daddy?). It's ...
8
votes
17answers
8k views
How do we get our toddler to gain weight?
Our toddler isn't gaining weight, and our doctor told us to fix it. We stopped breastfeeding and she gained a kilo in just two weeks, but since then (soon two months) she hasn't gained anything again, ...
8
votes
5answers
379 views
How do you respond to minor injuries?
I have a 21-month-old daughter. Sometimes (not always), if she bumps her head, or stubs her toe, or whatever, this results in crying and asking to be held (and not wanting to be put down once the ...
8
votes
5answers
9k views
How do you prevent a toddler from waking too early?
My 18 month old has started waking up progressively earlier every morning for the past couple of weeks. It used to be that he would wake up between 6am-7am, which was no problem because I would wake ...
8
votes
11answers
708 views
How to deal with a child in an “I can't” phase?
A 3 1/2 year old child has entered an "I can't" phase. He says "he can't" about things he really can do. It becomes hard to detect when to help or not help, because you're supposed to help children ...
8
votes
5answers
462 views
What are some ways to encourage a gifted toddler's development?
My girlfriend claims that our infant (about 9 month old boy) is gifted because he is doing certain things relatively early, such as the way he "speaks", moves around, eats, observes etc. That may very ...
8
votes
4answers
4k views
Is it traumatic for a toddler to be left in their bedroom with the door shut?
I've posted here before asking for advice for getting our toddler (2 yrs 5 mths) to sleep, as he's going through a very difficult phase. Once put to bed, he constantly gets out of bed and/or screams. ...
8
votes
6answers
1k views
How do we help our toddler to sleep through the night?
My 14-month old daughter is no longer breastfeeding, and sleeps happily in her bed, although it is still in our room. But she wakes up around three times at night, and as far as we can determine it's ...
8
votes
5answers
309 views
Kids Website, is it a good idea?
My daughter is just 4 months old. Being a software developer, I register two domains on her name, as soon as her name is finalized.
Now I was looking for some really eye catching kid website ...
8
votes
4answers
434 views
How to handle a defiant 2-year old when he takes something he shouldn't?
My very strong-willed 2 yr 10 mo. old son is curious about everything in his environment, which crops up as a problem now and then if something delicate, expensive, or dangerous comes into it. Eye ...
8
votes
4answers
458 views
How do I teach my toddler not to abuse animals?
We have two dogs and two cats, and our son loves to interact with them, but his form of interacting is not particularly enjoyable to the animals...
Some of the things he does are just annoying, like ...
8
votes
3answers
410 views
How do we make our toddler less afraid of robots?
I'm sure the headline made you curious? :-) But I'm serious, and I am not referring to toys but actual household machines. We have a Roomba floor vacuum cleaner and a lawn mower.
My 20-month son is ...
