How to get a 2 year old to understand?!?

Question

Please dont think im one of those mums who let their children run wild, im not, im just having a hard time getting my 2 year old daughter to listen to me and to do as she is told, how do i get her to listen to me? i dont want to smack so please dont suggest that, i also dont like screaming at kids, i do raise my voice and to a different tone but this doesnt work, the main problem really is we have a really expensive tv and she has the habit of switching it on and off turning the channels over and turning the volume up and down, i cant move it as its attached to its own stand so i cant put it out of her reach, i just dont want it broken.

Also my son, 8 months is starting to copy her.!

Please no nasty answers i generally need help!

Thanks ! xxx

Answer 1

hahah! we can relate!

we actually moved our entire LIVING ROOM downstairs so we are not generally around our flatscreen!!!

we have a small, portable dvd player for special treats (or flights) so once and a while he can have a short treat and watch the tv.

i was a little wary of moving the tv, but it has been wonderful for all of us. we watch it way less and when we do it feels more like a treat.

of course, maybe this wasn't the point of your question... maybe this type of behavior is carrying over into other situations?

have u read "the happiest toddler on the block"...the basic steps and information on how toddler think has really helped me.

i think this age is rough and tough on us, them, and our belongings!!

good luck!

ps- NO HITTING u grownups! ahh! It isn't ok and the evidence says it doesn't work...kids just remember the smack, not what it was for! please, let's move on up!

Answer 2

Two is a really tuff age to get them to understand things. She'll get some things but with others it is like banging your head against a brick wall. I'm sure this is made all the worse by your son starting to copy her. One of the most practical sollutions I can surgest is to actually unplug your tv. This means when ever she tries to 'play' with it nothing will happen and she should get board. I know that you may want your tv on so this might not be practical to have it unpluged all the time. So if it's more practical simply warn her once if she's 'playing' with the tv that you will turn it off and if she does it again it gets unpluged. This should protect your tv from any unwanted damage.

I also want to add that time out was surrgest by someone else surgest using time out. If you go for this method of disapline, there is some practical things you should know. Your daughter is only two so for time out to be effective time out for her should be for no longer than two minutes (a minute for each year of her life) so that she is able to understand what she has done wrong. If you sit her on a step or put her in her room for any longer than this she won't understand what she did to be put there. Give her a warning first and at the end of the time out tell her mommy put you ... because you're were playing with the tv and get her to say sorry to you, Make sure you are down at her level when you do this and not talking over the top of her.

Good luck I hope this helps.

Hopefull if you can stop your daughter playing with the tv your son will stop copying her. If not my friend used a method of time out with 9 month old of putting him in a empty travle cot for about a minute everytime he played with the tv. It worked really well for after a few months.

Answer 3

She needs a time out every time she does this behavior. And, just so you know, yelling is part of being a parent. I'm not talking screaming at her, but raising your voice and sternly saying no. Count to 3 and once you get to 3, she has a 2 minute time out. Set up a pack'n play in your living room and that's where her time outs are if she won't sit on a step or a spot on the floor. Make sure she knows why she's getting a timeout. Also, you can buy a plastic tv guard that blocks the buttons so she can't touch them. If she can't get to them behind the guard, then she won't want to touch your tv. They make them for the VCR and DVD player, too.

Answer 4

I have the same problem with my 20 month old son. We put ducktape over the channel thingy so he can't lift the flap and get to the buttons. Makes it hard on us because we always have to have the remote. It has worked though he can't play with the buttons and I don't have to keep telling him NO. I try to save most of my NO's for dangerous things. At this age we have to choose are battles very carefully. Then stick to it once you choose it.
Time outs could work although you should give a 1 minute time out for every year the child is. So for your 2 year old it would be 2 minutes (defently not the 10 minutes I read in one of the other answers)

Answer 5

You need to be CONSISTENT. Most likely you are doing all the right things, you just need to be totally consistent about it. Here's what you do. You find one acceptable method of discipline. Then you use it EVERY time in the EXACT same way... EVERY time! No matter what you are doing, you stop and discipline your child. As soon as she figures out she's playing YOUR game, not the other way around, then she'll mind. ALSO! Very important, if your daughter does something of her own accord correctly, or uses good behavior praise her like there is no end! Use big overtly happy faces with happy eyes and smiles and hugs and tell her how "Proud" you are of her that she behaved like a big girl! How "Happy" it made you! It'll work! You'll have a little angel on your hands in no time. Just be consistent, and praise all good behavior! Best of luck!

Answer 6

My husband is more anal about this issue than almost anyone I've ever met.

Here's how we've handled it:

1. SUPERVISION. That is the most important thing you can do. To be honest, you can't logically expect your 2-yr-old to remember she's not supposed to touch it until after she's gotten in trouble for it several times, so if you let her be in the room with it, without close supervision, you're just asking her to do something she's not supposed to do.

2. Hide the buttons. We started out putting duct tape loosely over the panel, but it caused a problem when we tried to use the remote. But if you go to Best Buy or somewhere else that has these accessories, you can get a clear plastic cover for the panel that allows the remote signal to go through, but that does not allow her to reach the buttons.

3. If she tries to mess with that panel, act as though she has already reached it, even though she can't technically get to it. That plastic panel just buys you time to teach her not to go near the tv.

4. Time outs, EVERY TIME she tries to touch it.

She'll get it eventually. At the moment, she just doesn't know WHY she's not supposed to play with it.

Just so you know, its' not just your daughter. That's just what they do at that age. That's part of what the "terrible twos" are all about. Any parent who tells you THEIR child doesn't ever touch stuff, or didn't ever touch stuff, they weren't supposed to touch, are either mistaken in their memory, or they are lying.

Answer 7

I think that everybody will have an opinion on this one ! My advice is just to use the information that will work best for you ! I h ave three children four years apart so I understand where you are coming from. What worked for me was a naughty step. I had a rule that I asked them to stop doing something once, the second time I told them that if they carried on they would go to the naughty step and the third time I moved them to the naughty step. This worked for me. You have to explain the rules first and be consistent otherwise it will serve no purpose. Whatever way you choose to correct bad behaviour you must remember to be consistent. Praise the good behaviour as we often forget to tell them when they are being good and only notice the bad behaviour. good luck

Answer 8

My kids went through a phase of turning the stereo on (two year and three year old) and it took us ages to sort it out. At that age kids understand more than you think so you've just got to keep explaining to her that she could break the TV if she messes about with it. She will probably get the message eventually.
Dont worry anyway, two year olds will mess about with stuff, that's just life.
(well done for not shouting / hitting by the way)

Answer 9

My 17 month old son does the same thing drives me nuts. We just bought a flat big screen and i put it on a stand that measured to the t.v. If you can try to buy a stand and put the remotes up high too. Other wise i don't really have any ideas. sorry.

Answer 10

only thing i can think of is everytime she does it go over to her stop her get her to look at you whilst holding her hands and say NO in a very firm voice and be consistent with it or sit her on the step for 5 minutes everytime she does it, be sure to explain that she isn't allowed to touch the TV i know you think she may not understand but kids understand more than you think.