A few weeks ago, I told my family a cute and funny story about my toddler—and ended up feeling terrible. With my toddler out of earshot, I had recounted an episode where he said an English word—”puddle”—but in perfect Filipino accent. He was so cute and so funny… except he wasn’t exactly making a joke, [...]
Tag: hurt
I’ve been short with my toddler. Rude. Frustrated. And there are days when I seriously can’t wait until he’s down for the night. But in over two years, I have never yelled at him, thanks to one miserable day when I vowed never to do so again. The little guy was a mere eight weeks [...]
I’ve mentioned the importance of addressing our kids’ emotions rather than brushing them off, but what happens if the emotion isn’t so apparent? My toddler has been randomly asking, “Where’s Daddy?” throughout the day, and I always respond truthfully: “He’s at the office.” I even describe what his dad is doing so that “office” doesn’t [...]
“Let’s go to the beach!” I suggested to my toddler on a recent day off. The weather had finally started warming up, if even just to sit on the sand and hear the waves slapping back and forth. I packed up our blanket and toys, slathered on some sunscreen and headed out. But once I [...]
The other day my two-year-old was fussing about his diaper. “Itches,” he complained, scratching at the diaper where the flaps were taped. Every time I suggested changing his diaper, he’d vehemently say, “No!” Okay, fine. Live with your itchy diaper then. But he whined about it again so I picked him up and tried to [...]
We were at my mother-in-law’s house yesterday when my toddler noticed his 10-year-old cousin G tossing a tennis ball with her hand. “Want to play,” my toddler said. So G threw the ball towards him and he picked it up, but rather than throwing the ball back towards her, he pretty much threw it at [...]
We’re fortunate that our toddler tends to be on the obedient side, so while we have tantrum episodes, most of the memories of my days don’t include too much discipline. We don’t spank, we don’t do time-outs, we don’t do count-to-three. We do what has to be done, and do a lot of explaining and [...]
