The Toddler Thread

[Frank the Tank]

A while ago Fotze started the "Baby Thread" for us new parents and I thought it was a fantastic idea. Well, some of us are now in the "Toddler" phase and may have some questions that the veteren CP parents can answer.

I have one specific question and its regarding the little "obsessions" that toddlers seem to get.

Our son is two, and is in LOVE with Thomas the Tank Engine. That in itself is fine with both my wife and I. The only issue we are having is that he WILL NOT wear any shirt but a Thomas shirt. Its gotten so bad that we have sent him to daycare in his Thomas pyjamas because he loses his mind if there isn't a clean Thomas shirt to put on.

Am I being too soft? Should I put my foot down and force another shirt on him? This has been going on for the better part of three months now.

[looooob]

no specific advice, other than it will pass (although something else will take its place).

it never ceases to amaze me how my son will be so interested in something, that I'm convinced he'll never like anything else more, only to see something new take its place 3 months later

right now its Blues Clues...sigh

[redforever]

If this is the most serious issue you ever face raising your son, you can consider yourself blessed. It is a phase, it will pass with time. My best advice for raising children at any age is DONT SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF.

[Frank the Tank]

Originally Posted by redforever

If this is the most serious issue you ever face raising your son, you can consider yourself blessed. It is a phase, it will pass with time. My best advice for raising children at any age is DONT SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF.

You try running out of clean Thomas shirts and telling me that buddy!

I know its minor, I just wanted to start the thread and get us father-types asking any questions we had, like the baby thread did.

Thanks for the advice though, it is appreciated.

And loooob, I feel your pain with Blues Clues. God that show is annoying.

[Eagle Eye]

Haha, my son is not obsessed with a specific item, but he is obsessed with dressing him self.

Wow he has come up with some wicked combinations, and there is no way in hell he will let you change him.

[Bingo]

My son is in the super hero phase ...

shows on tv, clothing and action figueres.

Hilarious

Send your kid to playschool naked! That will show him!

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Have you tried hitting him?

[Bleeding Red]

I'll take the hard line on this one.

Yes, pick your battles and don't sweat the small stuff, and yes, tomorrow it could be Dora or the Wiggles or whatever.

BUT - children need boundries. If his favorite Thomas shirt is in the wash, they need to know A - we don't wear dirty clothes to daycare, B - he can wear it tomorrow and C- he can pick the next best thing - otherwise, daddy picks and that is it. (remember, and I know it is not very PC, but you are bigger than him, you should be able to dress him even against his will)

If you do not nip it in the bud now it will go on forever. I have dropped my kid off at daycare shirtless, pantless and shoeless - after the boy removed all the clothes I put on him on the ride to daycare - sure enough he was dressed five minutes after I left. (I phoned to apologize for leaving a screaming pantless kid)

Yes, there will be crying and screaming for a while, but next time he will know that when Daddy or Mommy says that the shirt is in the wash he had better pick a different one cause you will not tolerate a tantrum.

Sure, if you are late and need to get moving, fine, give in, but remind him that it is a special chance.

Trust me, give in all the time on this issue and you will find that you are giving in on bedtime, tv time, mealtime, etc.... and pretty soon you realize that you are just the tallest person in the house.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Frank the Tank

Our son is two, and is in LOVE with Thomas the Tank Engine. That in itself is fine with both my wife and I. The only issue we are having is that he WILL NOT wear any shirt but a Thomas shirt. Its gotten so bad that we have sent him to daycare in his Thomas pyjamas because he loses his mind if there isn't a clean Thomas shirt to put on.

This is normal. Thomas stuff can get expensive though. Did you notice that George Carlin is the narrator on Thomas videos? Sometimes it is Alec Baldwin. It gets scary when you can start to identify all the different trains.

My 5 year old is obsessed with pirates and dinosaurs and dragons right now. My 3 year old loves Thomas, and Treehouse. How many shows can there be about bears or including bears?

[MacDougalbry]

Thanks for the tip, my son is just starting to get interested in Thomas, so I'll make sure not to buy him any shirts. Whatever you do, don't let them get addicted to the Wiggles. Only Barney is more annoying.

The Backyardigans is my personal favourite.

[V]

My 2 year old daughter is absolutely obsessed with anything that has to do with elephants. Needless to say, she loves the new Telus commercials.

Her obsessions come and go, though, so we never spend a whole lot of money on them. First it was Winnie the Pooh, then it was Spot the Dog, then it was anything to do with monkeys, and now it's elephants. She has a stuffed elephant that she has to go to bed with, but other than that she doesn't have a whole lot of items that she gets too attached to.

As far as taking a hard line, damn, is that ever the hardest thing to do. Some days you just think "Aw, whatever, she can get away with it this once", some days you're just out of time and unable to deal with the problem, sometimes you're just too frustrated and figure it's better for you if she just gets her way. But in the end I think the hard line has to be taken. Pick your spots, obviously, you don't want to be fighting with the kid 24/7.

The hardest thing we have with our daughter is that she's terrible at playing by herself. She's fine if we're playing with her, but if we're not she'll colour for about 2 minutes and then come find one of us and bug us to no end. We're hoping this gets better when our second child comes in January, because my wife has a really hard time getting anything done during the day.

Any parents out there with a single kid that finds something to keep them busy for a half hour?

[Bingo]

Flame related four year old story ...

had my son out front on Sunday playing some road hockey on the driveway. Having fun, time rolls by and then all of a sudden he moves off the driveway and stands in the grass.

I say ... "what are you doing buddy?":
"I want you to announce me"
"Here's Aidan!"
"No not like that, like the dome"

So I find myself saying "Ladies and Gentlemen, your Calgary Flames" as he runs on and proceeds to do laps around the driveway including behind the net.

30 minutes later he's done it three times and now has me following him and him announcing.

Too fun.

[Bleeding Red]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Flame related four year old story ...

had my son out front on Sunday playing some road hockey on the driveway. Having fun, time rolls by and then all of a sudden he moves off the driveway and stands in the grass.

I say ... "what are you doing buddy?":
"I want you to announce me"
"Here's Aidan!"
"No not like that, like the dome"

So I find myself saying "Ladies and Gentlemen, your Calgary Flames" as he runs on and proceeds to do laps around the driveway including behind the net.

30 minutes later he's done it three times and now has me following him and him announcing.

Too fun.

And that's why we have kids!!!

That is awesome!

Nothing like watching your kid walk up to the guy wear a laffs jersey and yelling "Go, Flames, GO!" They just don't know what to say.

[looooob]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Send your kid to playschool naked! That will show him!

both my kids would gladly go to school naked, they haven't figured out that whole society expects clothes thing yet

[redforever]

My kids are 31 and 28. Trust me, when the toughies come around ie: dating issues start, when the driving issues start, when the sex issues start, when the drug and alcohol issues start, you will feel tempted to say to your child, here, you can wear your Thomas the Tank Tshirt today.

Yes, children need boundaries, they need to know there are rules, BUT, they do not need to feel insubordinate and there is a fine line between parenting and bossing. Tow the line on those issues that you feel will make the biggest difference in your child's life.

Really, pick your battles and dont sweat the small stuff.

[looooob]

Originally Posted by Dominicwasalreadytaken

The hardest thing we have with our daughter is that she's terrible at playing by herself. She's fine if we're playing with her, but if we're not she'll colour for about 2 minutes and then come find one of us and bug us to no end. We're hoping this gets better when our second child comes in January, because my wife has a really hard time getting anything done during the day.

Any parents out there with a single kid that finds something to keep them busy for a half hour?

pretty common at two. alot of people will preach the importance of independant play, but I hear yah..its not easy...and it won't be easy at first when number two comes along

our kids are (almost) 5 and (just turned) 3...they've started playing together regularly (ie we can leave them for 20 minutes or so, and they don't need us at their side) only within the last 4-6 months?

[photon]

Haven't had any obsessive stuff with my 2 year old son yet.. he loves Blues Clues and Dora, and Toopy and Binoo and all the rest, but will watch pretty much any of them at any given time.

We have seen an increase in power struggles lately though, he's really testing his and our boundries. I can tell it's probably because we haven't been consistent enough in discipline and boundries, but it's hard because I don't know if he really understands some stuff yet. I can as "do you want a time out" or whatever but he doesn't reply or indicate that he understands what I'm saying (mind you he doesn't really reply yes/no to any question yet).

Doesn't help that we're still undecided as to the best form of discipline that's appropriate for a 2 year old.

EDIT: He's always been good at independant play though, he'll play for an hour all by himself.

[RedMan12]

I am the oldest child and I have 4 younger sister with a single mom. In a way I had to help raise them...

I remember when I use to babysit my one sister when he was about 2 or 3 and she would just cry and cry when my mom left until you put on her favourite movie. The Lion King. As soon as she heard the music she would shut up and sit still and watch the movie. There was no substitute, I tried other movies, toys, snacks, treats, etc.

Like other people said the only thing you can do is give them what they want and they will eventually grow out of it. Little kids can be pretty persistent when they get hooked on something.

[redforever]

The hardest thing we have with our daughter is that she's terrible at playing by herself. She's fine if we're playing with her, but if we're not she'll colour for about 2 minutes and then come find one of us and bug us to no end. We're hoping this gets better when our second child comes in January, because my wife has a really hard time getting anything done during the day.

Any parents out there with a single kid that finds something to keep them busy for a half hour?

Since I am probably one of the oldest on the thread here ( I afore mentioned my children are now 31 and 28), I will spout off on my ideas of playing these days.

As far as I am concerned, Sesame Street, or any shows along the same bent, are some of the worst childrens shows around. Yes, they might teach certain concepts that we think are vital towards our children's education. I am a former teacher, I got your kiddies once they entered the school system, and what did I see, and the problem got worse over time.

Many of today's children lack concentration and imagination. Why? In my estimation, shows like Sesame Street teach your children to concentrate for 1 minute, max of 3 minutes, then bring on something else, I am bored now. Same thing with parents who do what I call "over extra-curricular" their kids. Those kids never learn that it is ok to not do something once in awhile. Too many kids are bored and dont know what to do with their time, unless they are stimulated 24 hours of the day.

Try finding shows that stimulate your children's imagination and force them to use their imagination. I will admit I am out of touch with what is out there right now for younger children. BUT, in my estimation, two shows from my childrens' past stand out as outstanding for young children. They were Mr. DressUp and The Polka Dot Door. I know the first one for sure is now cancelled. For those of you who dont remember Mr. DressUp, it was like a half hour show into his house and neighborhood. It just moved slowly along, perhaps he had a visit from one of his neighbors, perhaps he went to visit one of his neighbors. It was nice and relaxing, flowing and not one minute of this and one minute of that. And there was always the Tickle Trunk and out of there came a craft the child could do out of ordinary stuff you always had in your house, or it was Dress Up time and your kiddies could dress up and play along.

Yes, a lot of the new tech stuff is bright, it is flashy, it talks, it plays music, but what does it get your child to do to use their imagination?

Want to know what will amuse your children for hours on end? Without parent participation? and you can do it all year round? Try a sand box. Bring it inside during the winter months. Throw down a tarp and let them play in the sand. Same with those little swimming pools. They might not be flashy, but children will play unsupervised on their own. Add other children to the mix, you have a built in baby sitter for hours on end.

[looooob]

Originally Posted by redforever

Try finding shows that stimulate your children's imagination and force them to use their imagination. I will admit I am out of touch with what is out there right now for younger children. BUT, in my estimation, two shows from my childrens' past stand out as outstanding for young children. They were Mr. DressUp and The Polka Dot Door. I know the first one for sure is now cancelled. For those of you who dont remember Mr. DressUp, it was like a half hour show into his house and neighborhood. It just moved slowly along, perhaps he had a visit from one of his neighbors, perhaps he went to visit one of his neighbors. It was nice and relaxing, flowing and not one minute of this and one minute of that. And there was always the Tickle Trunk and out of there came a craft the child could do out of ordinary stuff you always had in your house, or it was Dress Up time and your kiddies could dress up and play along.

.

both of those shows are long gone...you are old. LOL

seriously you raise some good points...but I'm not sure it's all TV... I think some kids just have a harder time playing alone than others...it took a while with my son for sure. I could have turned the whole house into a sandbox, not sure he would have cared

anyways I do agree with you, too many people looking for quick fixes nowadays, but sometimes I feel that a parent can end up blaming themselves forever if their child doesn't easily do everything the textbook or latest parenting guru recommends