Sometimes you just have to ignore it

As a teacher you get used to saying "please stop" and it stops. Yeah, well that doesn't always work with toddlers.

Right now Blake is into the whole hmmm what else can I do to get some attention. (Like he's starved for attention already or something?) He went through a phase of biting me. At first I tried my typical reaction as a teacher of, Ouch don't do that it hurts. Well with 5 year olds they know that means-- stop or you will get in more trouble. With a 1 year old it means... hey can I make her yell louder if I do it harder?

Last week Blake was banging on the television, and our first reaction was to move him away and tell him "Stop, we don't hit the tv). But, this just made the game even more fun. It meant Mommy had to stop, rethink and try again. The next day I ignored him when he hit the tv, to the point of walking away from him completely. This worked!

I guess one thing you learn quickly is you have to think of things in a very different light and figure out why are they doing it. And the answer 9 out of10 times with a toddler... because I can and I want to see what will happen if I do it!