Negotiating With Your Toddler

If your child is strong willed and you find yourself negotiating with your two year old on a regular basis, you are not alone! While being strong willed is an admirable characteristic in adults it can be very challenging in toddlers, elementary and middle schoolers; especially when you want them to do something and they don't want to.

So the question becomes how to not fight with your child, and instead handle the negotiation without getting frustrated, and how do you nurture instead of squash this quality that will be needed later on in your child's life?

I have advised so many parents on how to appropriately dialogue and how to avoid constant battles with their strong willed children, that when I began seeing those traits in my own son I had to laugh.

He definitely knows what he wants and he is gaining the vocabulary in lightning speed to let me know what it is. The hard part is to not get frustrated as I tend to the myriad of normal demands on my time.

Here are a few tips to help manage your toddler:

1) Pick your battles -- does it really matter if your child want to change back into his pajamas right when he gets home from the sitter?

2) What is important to your child? Let him/her pick out their own clothes if that is important to them.

3) If you child wants something and it is inconvenient can you offer up another option to appease?

4) Provide (2 or 3) choices and options so your child can pick from what you have selected.