MamaMeeshka21

Just before 2 years to around 27 months were honestly the hardest time. I was off for the summer and had planned so many fun activities and many times they were torturous or we just ended up staying home. I stopped telling we were going anywhere just in case we ended up going nowhere.
He’s 34 months and a sweetheart most of time. Just before 2 is still a little early for consequences but we did implement natural consequences. If he throws a toy, he can’t have that toy. If he refuses to clean up, then we cannot start the next activity (go outside, have lunch, pick a new game/toy etc.). When natural consequences weren’t available, we did a one minute time out with a timer. Returned him to the spot each time he tried to get out of it, didn’t speak to him for the whole minute. He’s up to 2 minutes now. I don’t like to do it, but it does seem to work. Once the time out is over, we talk about why he had to take a break and what he should do next time. Sometimes I ask him to apologize. This discussion is brief! It’s a wrap up to the time out. It’s not an additional consequence.

Even if a consequence doesn’t seem to work. Never double up on a consequence. Example: If he’s already lost the toy, he does not also get a timeout.

For food on the floor… he’s in a booster and we have some time out that way, just turned him and continued eating. But whenever possible will just take his food from in front of him and feed him ourselves until he’s ready to eat on his own.