How to Toughen Up Your Toddler

Too much indulgence is not likely to teach your toddler to be tough. It is completely natural for you to want to protect your little one, to avert crisis and to prevent him from failing at anything he tries, but in doing so, you are not helping him. Kids learn to become tough by overcoming obstacles on their own, by experiencing failure and by messing up and making mistakes. Some of the most valuable life lessons your child will learn are through his mistakes, and those will help to toughen him up.

Instructions

    • 1

      Toughen up your toddler by refraining from doing everything for him, advises Keith Ablow, psychiatrist and member of the Fox News medical team. This means doing things that are right, not that feel good. For example, if your toddler is jumping up and down trying to interrupt the conversation you are in the middle of conducting with your spouse, make him wait to talk to you. Many parents can̵7;t stand to see their child look hurt or act sad and they allow their child to interrupt, which does not help to toughen your child up. Making him wait is not abuse; it̵7;s parenting.

    • 2

      Provide consistency for your toddler, advises Family Education, part of the Pearson Education, Inc. family. For example, when you are inconsistent in disciplining your child and/or allowing the natural consequences of his actions to teach him a lesson, he is going to come out of the situation more confused than tough. He should be disciplined when he misbehaves and he needs to suffer the natural consequences when he fails to take responsibility for his actions. Otherwise he may not learn how to deal with discipline or get better at taking responsibility. This could cause your child to have self-esteem issues and not learn to handle life̵7;s tough moments.

    • 3

      Use natural consequences to help your child toughen up when appropriate, advises the National Network for Child Care. Even toddlers learn more from personal experience than from words, which means letting him miss out doing something fun because he wasn̵7;t listening is sometimes the best approach. For example, if you ask him repeatedly to stop leaving his cookie on the coffee table because the baby or the dog might get it and he doesn̵7;t listen, let the baby or the dog get it. Don̵7;t replace his cookie with another one or move it for him. Let him learn that not following the rules comes with negative consequences.

    • 4

      Let your toddler fail, advises James Lehman, a child behavioral therapist with a master's degree in social work, in an article for Empowering Parents. Learning to fail will toughen him up, teach him a lesson and make him better the next time around. Say you are playing a game of cards, such as Go Fish, with him and you let him win; all that does is teach him that he always wins. If you̵7;re winning, don't pull back your efforts to let him come out the winner. He might not like losing, but it helps to teach him that sometimes he is going to fail. Use this as an opportunity to ask him what he learned from his loss and what he can do better the next time. Perhaps he might learn that sometimes it̵7;s just the luck of the draw or that next time he needs to ask you for cards other than a king every single time it is his turn.

    2. Previous:

    Next:

    • How to Change a Birth Certificate
      Whether you are a parent whos discovered a mistake on your childs birth certificate or someone whos undergone gender reassignment surgery, changing a birth certificate can be necessary at times. Getting the documentation required to change a birth ce
    • How Does Sugar Affect Activity Level in Children?
      It has long been assumed that sugar increases the activity level in children. In fact, many parents blame hyperactive behavior on too much sugar in their child’s diet, or insist that their children become more hyperactive on occasions when they
    • What Should Teachers & Parents Know About Ritalin?
      Ritalin is usually thought of as the attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder drug. Its a stimulant that alters the chemicals in the brain to decrease impulsive behavior. If your child has been diagnosed with ADHD, his doctor has likely suggested Rit