Raising Toddlers – Sharing Parenting

"I think every parent should do this course"

Parent

Attended Raising Toddlers

Are you struggling with the ‘terrible two’s’?

Has your toddler started to say ‘No’!?

Have they started to refuse the foods they used to love to eat or refuse to go to sleep?

The toddler years are an incredible and exciting time in your child’s development. They can also be the most frustrating years for everyone as parents and children can find their emotions switching from absolute joy to deep frustration in a moment!

These are the years when your child starts to find their voice and they are the years, which lay the foundation of how they will choose to live later in life.

*Course

(*Please note our face to face courses have a limited capacity at this time. You can find lots of useful resources on our website such as strategies, podcasts and videos/vlogs.)

Our Raising Toddlers course will help you identify and develop some new strategies to help your baby transform into a toddler who is able to grasp all of the new opportunities that are coming their way – and all whilst keeping your own sanity!

Our course is most suited to any parent or carer of children aged one to five years old.

It is held once a week over six weeks, one and a half hour sessions, during which time you will be able to share your experiences with other parents and learn from the programme and each other.

Over the six weeks you will cover:

The many expectations placed upon us as parents and how we can develop our own values and stick to them.
Identifying how your toddler is feeling and be clear what their basic needs are.
Setting boundaries, offering choices and when to say ‘No’ and be effective!
How to play with your toddler in way which is engaging, appropriate, positive and which encourages their developing skills and why play is so important.
How to encourage your toddler to take on the world! How to bolster their confidence and self esteem when they are feeling unsure and how to balance their approach if they are over ambitious.

In our final session, we will recap on all that we have learnt and discussed so you will go away with some new tips and strategies to guide your toddler effectively through these exciting years.

“Methods are good, it’s just finding what works for us”

Parent

“It has been great to reflect with other parents and learn”

Parent

Positive Strategies

Please also see these very helpful recorded sessions and vlogs:

Fill Your Jug

Who’s looking after you? How can you look after others if your don’t look after yourself? Suzanne explains more here:

STOP, THINK, ACT

Take a moment before you act. Remember to model saying sorry if you don’t act the way you want your children to!

At Sharing Parenting we share lots of tips and strategies to support parents/carers and professionals to keep the atmosphere calm and to protect children’s self esteem for now and the future adults they will become.

These are only any good if we can remember to use them at the right time (although, none of us are perfect and being reflective and saying sorry are all good characteristics of an assertive parent).

So, what can you do in the heat of the moment, when you are all ‘emotionally flooded’?

STOP THINK take a moment to calm down, count to 10, breathe and then ACT.

Our traffic lights are one of our popular handouts – you can download yours here: STOP THINK ACT

Active Listening

What’s the difference between Listening and Active Listening? Suzanne explains here:

We aren’t taught to listen, we ‘just do it’. Some people are better than others. Sometimes as parents, things get in the way and we can be distracted when our children are trying to talk to us.

Listening does not mean fixing, it means supporting our children to work things out. To encourage them and build their self esteem.

There are 2 levels of listening – what the words are telling you and what your child is feeling. It is important to hear on both levels.

Helpful hints:

Make a conscious decision to listen
Switch off your own agenda
Ask open questions (who, what, where, when, how)
Think of your body language – open posture, nodding, facing child, eye contact when you can.
Resist giving advice. Remember – you’re not fixing.
Listen for their feelings (e.g it sounds like you’re really angry)
If it isn’t an appropriate time for you to listen, make an arrangement with your child to find a suitable time. Make sure you stick to it.
Think about how it feels when you are not listened to compared to how you feel when you are being listened to.
Mirror good listening to show your children how to become good listeners.
Don’t Say Don’t

Don’t think of a white rabbit ….I said don’t!

It’s very hard for the brain to not picture the don’t.

Children often only hear the last 2 words of your sentence so don’t even hear the don’t – you are actually asking them to do it!

If you want them to do something ask them what you want them TO DO – stay on the path, pick up your toys, take your plate to the kitchen etc.

Roller Coaster Parenting

Ever feel like you’ve been given a ticket to a theme park? Being a parent is like being on a roller coaster. There are ups and downs, highs and lows. Hold on tight and enjoy the ride!

You can download the Roller Coaster Poem here