Princessionista

The Toddler was 31 months yesterday! It is a very precious age. I love the vocabulary and the quirks of the little personality developing!


I hope we will be sensitive enough to allow her to develop fully as her own unique human being…

Because it is also a very difficult age! She pushes the boundaries the whole time. The question is how important some of those boundaries are? Where do we draw the line with regards the really important stuff?

Mama Poekie’s article at Authentic Parenting about the art of negotiation struck a cord! This is exactly what we are doing right now! We are trying to improve the art of negotiation to come to “an agreement that we all feel comfortable with.”

A case in point: the Toddler wants to look like a princess every day. What she thinks look like a “princess”, and what we think are totally different things! She went to sleep last night with summer sandals over socks… The Wordless Wednesday post of this week shows her where we got to a very amicable agreement! It is now mostly summer dresses over winter clothes…

I feel totally beat every night after her bath and negotiating to get her into a princess outfit that we both agree on. It doesn’t help for me to put the outfit on the bed… She checks it, and jumps down and goes to her cupboard and takes out something that she prefers. It is mostly the same dresses over and over again! She’s got a whole cupboard full of pretty clothes, but it does not fit her “princess”-style of clothing!

Phew! Breathe! It doesn’t matter, does it? It is not important, and I must keep reminding myself that…

Another very cute thing that she does now: She is definitely a Daddy’s girl. Whenever she watches or we read a story, and the princess finds her prince, she declares: “Sy het haar papa gekry!” (She has found her daddy!) Even with some love scenes on the television!

Love this girl, our little princess!

Adult tantrums

Now that I see The Tantrum on a fairly regular basis, I realize that there are most lots of adults who did not get a hold on them when they were young!

Don’t we all get the occasional tantrum when we

• “AAARGGG!”-scream

• Throw a book/cup/etc.

• Bang a door/desk/keyboard.

• Go into a raging monologue?

Is it possible to learn how to handle our emotions and to get a grip on that emotional outburst!
Of course, yes!

That’s why we have such a responsibility in the toddler years to teach our children how to handle that overflowing bursts of emotions.

I think that by trying to put a lid on it, we do not deal with it correctly. Putting a lid on it is when we punish the toddlers and prevent them from going through the whole process. Sometimes it is good to let them rage...
We should also try to teach them how to channel it. There are so many great articles available of strategies. Dionna at Code Name Mama wrote a great guest post at Good Goog about parenting strategies which sums it up for me! It is not about disciplining, but about loving and honouring the development phase in which the child finds himself at!

I am of the opinion that if we approach it in this way we will have less Tantrum Queens and Tantrum Kings around us!

What do you think? Do we go into emotional overdrive because we were not allowed to have those tantrums when we were young?




Related post:
How to survive the terrible tantrum