How does one properly Discipline a two year old child?

Question

My sister has a two year old little boy that I absolutely adore, yet he is kind of mischievous. I can’t bear to see him hit, but my sister gets very frustrated and screams and hits him in the hand or butt. I know that rules should be enforced but is he to young and is my sister being too hard on him.

Answer 1

kids are learning at this age, so he's going to learn to hit when something does wrong. She has to show him Time out and be firm on it or one day, he's going to start hitting other kids when they do something he doesnt like. Hitting on the hand can affect a child's blood vessels. So spanky on the butt is ok, but for extreme behavior. LIttle things that irritate can be time out.

Answer 2

At under three years of age, the child is too young to understand cause and effect, so any method of conditioning is not going to help. The two best techniques at this age are positive distraction when the undesired behavior occurs, or removal from the area the trouble is taking place. Aside from that, your sister must learn to be very patient and try not to enforce too many rules. It is also important to try not to have a strong reaction to what the child is doing, because this will simply serve to confuse the child. At this age the child is simply exploring the world and testing its limits.The child is not yet old enough to understand that what they are doing might be causing a problem.

Hitting will only cause the child to develop low self esteem, and confuse the child. The child does not know why he or she is being hit at this age, they only know they are being hit. At age three the child will be old enough to use time outs, and that will only work for about a year at best before the child's developing sense of time helps them to realize time outs are simply a waiting game. At that point, however, the child should respond quite well to cause and effect methods such as taking away toys or sending them to their room. Even if your sister decides to use corporal punishment, it will not serve any purpose until the child is at least three.

Answer 3

Dr. James Dobson has a book called Bringing Up Boys and one called The Strong Willed Child. Those are both great. A little swat here and there is fine but if it it all the time it will accomplish nothing. Spanking should never be done out of anger or frustration instead use a time out. It will give the kid a breather as well as the person doing the discipline.

Answer 4

That depends a lot on the individual child. Some children respond well to a "time out", while others might need a sharper reminder that they've done something wrong. Some can be reasoned with, while some are very headstrong and stubborn.

If you're worried that your sister is being too physical with the boy, try talking to her about it. Let her know you're concerned. Offer to take him for a couple of hours. This will give her time to cool off and give you a chance to get a better feel for the boy's personality.

A spanking or two isn't necessarily a bad thing, as long as it doesn't get out of hand.

Answer 5

Screaming and hitting are signs that the parent doesn't have the inteeligence to parent effectively and that the parent has no parenting skills.
First of all you have to recognize that this is a small child, and NOT a mineature adult. Two year olds do not have the attention span nor the cognative recources in their tiny little minds that adults do, this is why CONSISTENCY is key in disciplining them. Screaming and hitting a child of this age is simply abuse. The screaming is emotional/verbal abuse and the hitting of course physical abuse. Apes hit their offspring to keep them in line, humans SHOULD be more intelligent and able to NOT get frustrated and take it out on their children. You sister is in need of anger management as well as parenting classes, before she does more damage to this poor child than she already has.

Answer 6

Hitting is not the solution at 2 years old. They don't even really understand the concept yet. The best way to discipline a 2 year old is to ignore them. THEY HATE TO BE IGNORED. Don't look at them or walk away from them.

Another piece of advice-the word No. At 2 it doesn't have alot of meaning because they hear it constantly. Sometimes when you are really angry and other times when you aren't. they get confussed, some people let them do the things you say no to. Try using the word "stop please". Stop works alot better than no. Trust me, try it for 2 weeks, you'll see.

Answer 7

I know you are going to have the people saying never hit a child, but hear me out.
I have 5 sons. Two of them have the personality type, that is easily brought back to reality, simply by sounding upset. The other three make me want to beat them with a hot iron skillet! ( I don't really do it). Most other forms of discipline don't phase them. Time out, PLEASE! Taking things away...WHATEVER! A few swats and they are interested in what I'm saying. I know you love your nephew and you want the best for him. As long as your sister isn't abusing him, her discipline tactics is what you have to support. It is too easy to confuse a child, when people are not consistent in his life. He will learn to behave with mom, but misbehave everywhere else. Kids get on your nerves, no doubt. Offer to help your sister out. Two year olds love playtime with anyone who is interested. She has to deal with him more and if he has been misbehaving all day, you could be walking in on her last straw. He is not too young to enforce rules, he may have you fooled and in the palm of his little hand where he wants you!

Answer 8

wow kids are extremely frustrating at this age... and i can certainly understand. I don't know if your sis will appreciate you butting into her parenting or not.. but maybe to help lesson the stress you can offer to take him for her on occasion so she can have some time to herself.... and a slap on the hand or the rear if they are doing something that could be potentially dangerous sounds reasonable the screaming and yelling isn't such a great idea,,, but until you have walked in her shoes.. he is really just a baby and nothing wrong with putting him in his crib for some play time by himself is one thing she can do if it gets to be too much for her or what I do when my kids get to me i take a "mommy time out" go to my room for a few minuted to calm down.... just support her and if you can offer some suggestions good luck

Answer 9

Proper discipline always depends on the personality of the child. I personally believe there is nothing wrong with spanking if a child requires it as a last resort, however I will always disagree with yelling.

I recommend finding some community resources for your sister to help her out.

Answer 10

all 2 year olds are mischievous, and will get into everything. they are exploring thier world, and dont know whats right and wrong, and dont know that things can hurt them. first, explain to your sister, that he just simply dosent know any better, but can learn with patitence and consistence. when he is getting into something he's not suppose to be, or doing something he's not suppose to be doing, get down to his level, explain to him in a calm voice why he cant do what he's doing, and offer him a distraction, like a favorite toy or game. if he continues to go back to what he was doing, try a simple time out in a chair or on a step for 2 minutes. (one minute per year they are old)...and when the 2 minutes is up, simply say "ok, now lets go play with your toys" or continue doing what was offered to him before the time out. remind her that this will not work in just a day, and that it takes practice, patitence, and persistance. eventually, he will catch on. and sometimes, when a child is acting out, or doing something wrong, its just simply because they need some one on one attention. if your sister gets upset with the new ideas, try them yourself in front of her, and hopefully she will get the idea and follow your lead. i hope this helps, good luck!