The Day Your Child Develops an Attitude:

That day that every parent seems to warn you about has finally arrived – our son has stamped his independence!

You know, it got to a point with Lincoln (our 18month yr. old) where life was pretty good. We tell him to do something, he’d do it. We were also able to spoon feed him just about anything we dealt up…. but what the hell, who let this kid suddenly develop his own opinion!? That’s not fair!
About 2months ago, Lincoln began really coming into his element and truly made us realise that he is growing up so quickly. He began wanting to feed himself, which eventually led to us purchasing an art smock to prevent too much unavoidable mess (hey, it actually works! Try it!). And the backfire with food was that he also began realising what the ‘good’ food was, and the stuff he hated – even though we were able to feed him this stuff earlier in the year. So no more carrot sticks and lemon! haha

This naturally bought on a bunch of new struggles and huddles as Lincoln began to stamp his authority. Refusing to hold our hands, go to bed and to get into the pram :(
But listen up, this is only a natural occurrence as your child begins to become independent and not rely on you as much (I’ve heard that they continue to rely on you constantly for the rest of their lives though! Bloody kids!!!).



Yes, your child may begin to show a sense of independence and a bit of an attitude, but do not let them rule you. I know couples that have let their child dictate everything once this attitude has begun to develop and a year on, these children are running the show! Refusing to brush their teeth, eat anything, running amuck, jumping on couches…

We’ve been pretty persistent with Lincoln as this began to occur. We gave him his freedom, but we also reiterated that we run the show and that if he’s going to whinge and moan that he isn’t getting his way, he’ll be ignored. So, my advice during these stages is to stay strong and to reinforce those behaviours that you wish them to execute. They may huff and puff for the initial stages, but constant reinforcement will provide the desired result.

I hate to compare it to raising a dog, but children’s minds are very similar. Positive reinforcement provides positive results. We now have a child that holds our hand, listens to us (most of the time!) and understands that we run the show. There is nothing worse than having your child running the show as they approach the terrible 2s! If you can curb it early, it may be a lot easier on your sanity!

Don’t be the parent who is constantly running after your child. I know that it isn’t always easy as that, but persistence and positive reinforcement goes a LONG way during this stage where they develop their own personality and independence. Good luck!

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