Or The Age of Separateness?
Last week we talked about the terrible twos or the Age of Separation, we learned that creating an environment that meets the needs of the little ones allow our kids to feel a little more independent (always remember to be aware of them) and, by giving them advance warning of 5 minutes we can make things happen without much struggle.
When my children went through this stage my husband always told me: ‘Remember that men are hunters,’ meaning that although we are civilized now, kids especially boys have that instinct to explore, jump, run, and every time I read the next quote of Deepak Chopra (The Seven Spiritual Laws for Parents) reminds me the words my husband use to said to me (and in ocations still reminds me).
Instead of trying to stop the run of a child towards power, we should channel that energy through activities and challenges that teach balance.
Following the theme from last week, the terrible twos, some other suggestions from Corkille Dorothy Briggs are:
3. Make simple games.
The easiest way to get our children to do things is to make it fun, for example to collect the toys we can say that the crane (a container of ice cream or any other) is waiting for the toys that our kids must collect, then the crane will be emptying in the right place, it’s more fun if we make the sounds.
Who does it faster or first? works perfectly. Who collects more toys my sons or I ? It was a game we played, at first I’m winning, but then my kids start working faster to beat me and at the end they win. I prefer, that my kids work together 
against me, the idea was that all my sons feel happy because they win and I get happy because the toys are in their places. Today they pick their own toys and learned that toys should be collect before watching TV or using the computer.
When my kids do not want to greet the grandparents for instance, my husband always says ‘Let’s see who greets first’ and my kids start running right away to greet their grandparents and win.
Bath time can also be fun if we blow bubbles while bathing. Sometimes I blew the bubbles and they were very happy full of bubbles all over their bodies.
4. Use an alarm
For kids who like challenges, this suggestion can work. Who will win the alarm or you picking up the toys? is another way to play and not be the nagging mom. Let see if you can put the pajamas before the alarm sound.
I now use this method to study 15 minutes studied and 5 minutes of break. It’s the best way I’ve found so far to study with them.
Other things to implement at home to promote the independence of the kids in the house were:
- Leave some cups with water in the refrigerator, if they were thirsty just had to open the fridge and grab the glass they liked.
- In the kitchen, my kids has a special drawer for them alone, if they wanted something (spoon to play, plates, glasses, etc) they knew they could take anything they wanted from there.
- For hand washing we put some small benches so they could wash their hands themselves.
In summary the terrible twos or the Age of Separation is a time where our children want to be recognized as independent as long
we can (and is safe) recognize that independence and do things fun as possible, and When we can’t? Well we will not be the first nor the last that a kid will makes a little show on the street or anywhere. That is also part of motherhood.
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