All humans are annoying at some point or other, especially to their family members, who live with their daily foibles. (Even Jesus’ parents were probably at their wits’ end when they lost him for three days during their travels.)

But toddlers can be extremely annoying. They interrupt, they persist in asking the same question over and over again, they make massive messes, they have humongous tantrums, and they keep forgetting to wash their hands after eating and before touching everything else.

Parenting – and teaching – takes oodles of patience, which one is usually short of when sleep-deprived, as parents of toddlers usually are. So how do we keep our cool and model patience to our toddlers?

I’m still working on it, but here are some tips I have picked up from parenting websites and from my own experience with two toddlers at once:

Take a Breath

It can be terribly tempting to react in the moment, especially when it feels like the last straw on top of a stressful day, or like you have repeated yourself ad nauseum and your progeny simply do not follow instructions.

But making a habit of ‘pausing before reacting’ can prevent both you and your toddler from escalating the tense situation. It also shows your toddler that it is possible to stay calm even when frustrated. As they copy our habits and speech patterns, both good and bad, we have to be conscious of what they are picking up from us, before they form a bad habit, too!

Make It Fun

Cleaning up spilled food and drink or putting away toys scattered all over the place can feel onerous, particularly when it is for the umpteenth time. But if you reframe it as a game of sorts, instead of just a chore, both you and your toddler can turn it into a fun time.

My toddlers like helping to wipe things up, and my son in particular enjoys racing. So turning things into a race is sure to get him on board.

Understand

Toddlers are just starting to learn about the world and how to function in it. As Thomas Sowell quipped:

“Each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too late.”

Understanding how your little ones thinks, will go a long way in developing more patience with them when they do something contrary to your expectations.

One thing that helped me understand my toddlers’ penchant for loading their toys into a bag or a box and carrying them about, was the “transportation schema”. See the Facebook post below for more:

How have you managed dicey situations with your small children? Share your tips below.

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Image courtesy of Adobe.