Straight up, let me just say this. Parenting is hard and there’s no right way to do it. Also, I LOATHE talking about parenting and I generally avoid it all costs. However, we are deep in the toddler parenting phase and I’ve been devouring the work of many experts and other mums online trying to do the best job I can to help navigate my two year old through this major brain explosion we’re experiencing right now. I’ve found it all very helpful so I thought I’d pop together an episode on what’s working for us right now. Or rather what sometimes works in the Wild West of Toddler Town.
When I first got pregnant I had a lot of people tell me not to read any books or follow any experts. They told me to follow my instincts and trust myself. That’s excellent advice for some people but that did not work for me at all. I’m a researcher. I like to know what options there are, if there’s anything I’m missing and what’s worked for other people. And yeah, there’s no handbook for parenting or a one size fits all method but personally I have benefitted a lot from reading parenting books.
I needed to know how it all worked. When my kid was a baby I looked up feeding schedules and meal plans because I had no idea how much or what to feed her. I’m now doing the same with the toddler phase. New challenges are popping up all the time and sometimes I have reactions to her behaviour that I don’t like or I try a disciplinary tactic spontaneously and manage to totally cock it up. In those moments I turn to research and the advice of experts so the next time something shocking happens, I know how to respond.
Today’s guest is one of my best mates in the whole world, Steph. We met over 20 years ago doing theatre and I basically lived in her spare room in the house shared with her now husband Stuart when I was at uni. Steph and Stu now have three children. Yes, three and they are marvellous, all of them. And yeah they can have their moments (as all kids can) but over all they’re genuinely good little people and I think Steph has some excellent ideas for dealing with toddlers. Steph is also a primary school teacher and one of the calmest people I’ve ever met.
In this episode I chat about…
- My possibly quite strange active wear habits
- How on earth I came to not realise that Martian means ‘from Mars’
- Why The Naughty Corner isn’t that great
- Sharing your calm
- Dealing with the big feelings of little people
- How we all lose and shit and surfboard carry our kids to the care and that’s totally fine
- My Telephone method for dressing a kid who really hates getting dressed
- Our Race method for dressing a kid who really hates getting dressed (in case you can’t tell our kid REALLY hates getting dressed)
- A few resources to follow if you’re keen on having a bit of a plan
If you have a toddler and you’re looking for some tips that might help your day a bit more smoothly, this episode is for you.
Links mentioned in this episode
How Inuit Parents Teach Their Kid’s to Control Their Anger
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