How to discipline 15 month old girl?

Question

I have a 15 month old daughter.Nowadays she is more active & wants to do a lot of things. She is getting adamant. Sometimes i really dont understand. I try to explain to her politely, then if she doesnt listen then in a bit stern voice. sometimes i end up hitting her a bit so that she can understand what she is doing is wrong.
I know she is not of the age to understand but i really dont know how to handle her mischiefs. I fear that if i let go everything then she will be a spoilt child. Also i know that this is common for her age. i dont know how to balance out this. Plz help me. I wantt to build a strong relationship with my daughter.

Answer 1

Most important is no matter what be consistent. Stick with one form and keep it up, she will act out even more then get use to it.

At one timeout seemed to work with my son. 1 minute per year of age, have the same spot always be time out. Now my sons almost three and I set a timer, he knows he cannot get up until that timer dings. Everytime he gets up the timer is reset. At about 18 months your child will start understanding that concept.

Whatever you do good luck!

Answer 2

Loving Momma:

It is very important at this time (The start) that which ever way you choose to discipline that you follow through. Do NOT give in and let it go by ignoring it . It will only get worse until severe discipline problem will be the results. Although it may be difficult to implement discipline at first, I can't express the importance. If implemented in the beginning, mark my words, she will know you mean what you say and will listen and respect in many many more years to come! Time-Out is always a great place to start and Stick to it!! Tough Love Does Pay Off w/disciplining!

Answer 3

Consistency is the key - You can't say no this time then maybe next time or she will be raising you!! It is very hard - take it from one who knows - I have three willful boys - one of which has ADHD and Tourettes Syndrome.

Try 1-2-3 Magic - you can rent a dvd or video (or get the book) of it at your local library or they can order it for you from another library that has it in stock if they do not (you might have to ask them to roder it from another library though).

This really, really helped me alot!! It is kind of like a time out for bad behavior but they do role playing so you can get ideas of how to handle different situations and also lets you know what behaviors you should discipline and what behaviors you can ignore.

PS - I was 1st shown this video through my township Youth and Family Counseling Community Center when my youngest was almost 2!

Answer 4

It's great that you are seeking help to change what you are doing and find something that will work!

The first thing you need to do is to stop hitting your child!!!!! What exactly do you expect that to teach her? I understand that dealing with toddlers can be frustrating...been through it 3 times myself...but hitting is NOT the answer for how to teach her. When you do that, you're basically having an adult temper tantrum. Hitting her DOES NOT teach her what she is doing is wrong.....it teaches her that she can't trust you. It teaches her to hit to solve her problems. Make a pledge to yourself and your child to not do it again. If you feel like you might.....WALK AWAY for a few minutes so you can get yourself under control and make a plan for how to proceed. Walking away to compose yourself is NOT giving her control.....it's helping you to KEEP control.

She's only 15 mos old. When you "explain to her politely" how many words are you using? If you talk too much, they just tune you out. Short, simple instructions are best at this age. "Not for babies" or "owie.....hurt you!" or "sharp" or "hot" or other simple explainations are best.

Redirect her or distract her. Those are the two BEST tools a parent has at this age.

If she wants to climb on the kitchen table, redirect her to something that she CAN climb on safely like a pile of pillows on the floor. If she wants to draw with crayons on the wall, tell her "paper is for drawing on" and give her some.

If she's reaching for something she should not have, hold out something you'd rather she play with. If she gets ahold of a no-no item, trade her something that she CAN have. Or, this one works so well for a lot of kids, hold your hand out for it like you expected her to give it to you all along and say "thank you!" in your most pleased voice. Kids LOVE to make grown ups happy and most of the time they'll happily hand it over to you!

Can you tell us some of the "mischiefs" that she gets into? Maybe if we knew specific examples it would be easier to give you more suggestions.

I'd suggest you get ahold of two good books -

Adventures in Gentle Discipline by Hilary Flower
The Discipline Book by Dr. Sears

These books will help to give you some more ideas how to deal with misbehaviour and teach her what is appropriate. There are also a couple of good links below for you.

Answer 5

It's normal to be active, energetic, and curious at her age. Hitting her won't solve the problem. Although many parents do it, I'm no one to judge, but I believe that will only teach her that its OK to hit other kids/people/animals when SHE gets frustrated. My best advise is to tire her out. Let her run wild, climb, and let out her abundance of energy every day for a bit then slowly introduce her to quiet time, right after. Rewarding her when she listens also works. A sticker for every 30 minutes of "calm" or maybe a cookie. I know its tough but hang in there...they grow up too quick. Enjoy it.

Answer 6

For me, (I have a 20 mo. old), putting my child in her crib for a few minutes when she's throwing a temper tantrum helps. If she starts throwing a tantrum, I simply pick her up and tell her "When you can calm down, you can get out of your crib". 98% of the time, she's over her tantrum in 5 minutes or less. Occasionally, she ends up falling asleep w/ in 10 minutes because her tantrum was caused by tiredness anyway!! Distraction works, as does a firm "no" and a light pop on the hand (not a hard pop- don't hurt your child!!) Good luck.

Answer 7

watch super nanny and buy her book. How to get the best of your children by Jo Frost. She has great advice that really works. I have twin boys that just turned 2, we have been going off of what she suggests and you wouldn't belive the changes I have seen in my boys. For a while, when they were your daughters age, I thought something was wrong or had ADD or ADHD ( is in the family).

Answer 8

Rewards do work but i don't agree with the method.Because they get used to it and every time they do something,they expect you to give them a reward.If you don't,they don't listen anymore.15 month old won't care for the stickers but cookies or her favorite snacks would work now,until she gets a little older.i have a28 month old.if i ask her to do something,she'll say no at first.I would grab her hand and do it with her.After it's done,i jump up and dawn and start claping.She gets exited and tries even harder.She helps alot and likes to get involved with everything i do.Hang in there mom,you are not alone.

Answer 9

i have a 6 year old and a 5 month old. at that age, you can't explain things to them. their attention span is too short and they don't understand everything that you are saying. so if it is something dangerous or horrible that she has done....pop her hands. they hate that. i did it to my son and we are still very close. i mean he is a boy so he likes to hang out with his daddy but sensitive things he won't tell his dad he tells me. so just know that you will still be close with her if you have to spank her hands for some stuff. she won't be spoiled, you just have to say no to some things and then take her away from whatever it is. if you do it enough she will understand....try those things, see if they work....
spankings for doing things that can harm her or that are just not tolerated by you
and take her or the object away (repeatedly if she keeps going to it) that you don't want her to touch.
hope that helps

Answer 10

Give her safe toys to be busy with later she will call you to be around. Let her enjoy herself in a safe place. Leave it to that for an active child.