Clover Lane

I am going to do a little series here and there this year on a handful of toddler tips and tricks I've learned along the way.  I owe much of this learning to my mother and mother-in-law who have taught me in so many ways how to love this stage, sharing their education, experience, and their tips. Their love of children, at all ages, has been a gift to me, and I am forever grateful.

I adore toddlers.  I know that many parents feel that they have to "survive" toddlerhood and we've all heard the "terrible two's" phrase hundreds of times.  But I think toddlers are the funniest, cutest, cuddliest, most irresistible little guys ever and I've always said, it will be a sad day for me with no toddler in the house.

That is not to say raising a toddler is a breeze.  It requires quick thinking, an art really, a skill to handle this wondrous stage of development.  There are times when toddler behavior is frustrating, we all have had bad days, when we just don't have a drop of patience left.  I've had plenty of those days also.  This is such an important time in a child's life.  They are growing and changing so quickly, too quickly for themselves.

It is most certainly a stage in parenting that requires more energy from us. They place a huge amount of trust in us, their parents, and we must try to understand their little minds, but also be a leader to them.  If not, we confuse them, and make them miserable and ourselves miserable in the process. The thing is-it's easy now when they are little, believe it or not. They trust us, adore us, and we have total control over their lifestyle, their environment and their schedule.

If we are willing to learn about what is going on in their brains and bodies, and adapt our lifestyle as much as we can, we can have toddlers who are generally happy, joyful children.