Sharing tips

Little discoveries are so exciting these days.

I'm always searching for parenting tips, techniques, and tricks. Here's a few of my latest. They may already be well known. # three I learned in school and from Suppernanny.

1. While clipping fingernails, set your toddler on the sink and let his/her feet dangle in. Turn on the water and let them be entertained while you clip.

2. Bungie chairs together at the table so they can't pull them out and climb on them. Our chairs are across from each other. 4 chairs, 2 on one side, 2 on the other.

3. Keep placing them where they need to be when they resist or fight it.

I'll explain three. When we were visiting Scott's family at Christmas, we had the luxury of having a bedroom at the grandparents house. This is quite an honor. There's three bedrooms and the families with little kids who need naps and early bed times get a room. So some people stay at a hotel or on the floor. Well, we always bring the pack n play for Zachary.

After I set him down for a nap one day, I went downstairs to read. A few minutes later Nanny, Scott's grandmother, came in the room carrying Zachary. She said, "he was coming down the stairs". Oh great. So now he can climb out of the pack n play.

So I went to put him back down. He was ready for a game. He would pop up everytime I laid him back down. So I was getting frustrated. I knew spanking him just wouldn't get the right message across. He wouldn't understand that. I don't want to do it anyway. I continued to lay him back down every time he got up. Eventually he quit fighting me and just cried while laying there. A few minutes later he tried it again and I did the same. Well it worked. I got the idea from classes and from Suppernanny. She used the trick getting kids to bed in the elementary ages. I was glad it worked. Behavior modification techniques are great to learn about.