Hot off the press is the third book in the series, What to Expect the Second Year. Since my kids are all much older, I was, of course, completely unaware of the arrival of this book. However, evidently my blog and it’s amazingly cool design (hey, I slaved over this thing for days and days to get it perfect, so I think I deserve some bragging rights!) caught the attention of someone over at the What to Expect website and they asked me to do a giveaway of their brand new book.

I’ve got two copies in my possession and they look just as informational as their predecessor. (Disclosure: I haven’t read, nor ever even seen, a copy of What to Expect the First Year, so I have no comment on that one.) I would have loved to have this book when my girls were in their second year of life. My only question: Why didn’t they come out with these sooner???

If you’d like to win a copy of one of these excellent resources, here’s the scoop:

THE PRIZE:

One of two copies of What to Expect the Second Year.

TO ENTER:

♣  Leave a comment on my blog. That’s it! Limit one comment per person, per day.

WANT BONUS ENTRIES?

♣  Subscribe to my blog via RSS or email, then leave a comment letting me know.

♣  Tweet this giveaway and leave a comment with the link. (You can do this daily.) Optional phrasing for your Tweet: I’m entered to win What to Expect the Second Year from @MomofTwinsPlus2. Check it out: http://tinyurl.com/5r8wehn.

♣  Post on your blog with a link about the giveaway and leave a comment with a link to your post.

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PLEASE READ: Giveaway ends at 11:59 p.m. Central Standard Time, Friday, June 24, 2011. Any comments left after this time will be deleted. Open to residents of the U.S. only. The winner will be chosen by using random.org. Winner will have 24 hours to respond to notification with shipping info. If no response, another winner will be chosen.

GOOD LUCK!

I started out with the same method, but then quickly realized that I was only making life harder for both myself and my poor twin daughters. They were curious and wanted to touch everything. When they first started walking, they understood the meaning of “no,” but they didn’t understand why. A one-year-old just doesn’t get why her playing with a “pretty” may result in breakage and upset feelings. With two of them, I was outnumbered anyway and before long, I felt like all I was saying to them was “no.”

That was when I decided that I would put anything I didn’t want broken up and out of reach of tiny little hands, until such time as they understood what “fragile” and “break” meant. This worked out well for us and I’m glad I did it that way because, frankly, I didn’t want my nice possessions broken in an effort to teach my toddlers not to touch them, nor did I want to be constantly hovering over them, waiting to correct a misguided touch. At other people’s houses, I watched them carefully to make sure that they didn’t handle anything they shouldn’t.

When they got older, they understood quite well what they could and couldn’t touch, and why. It was much easier to teach them later when they understood the logistics, i.e., breaking something caused an upset mother. I, in turn, didn’t lose anything I valued and was able to do other tasks without worrying that my toddlers were damaging anything. My motto — “If you don’t want it broken or damaged, put it away.”

This method might not be a desirable one for some parents and I’m certainly not saying it’s the only right one; it’s just what worked best for us. Part of this whole parenting journey is figuring out what suits our personalities and those of our children’s the best. Sometimes that might not be what others label as the “right” way, but in the end, we have to do what we feel is good for our kids and forget about what other people think.

How did you handle your toddlers and breakables? If you haven’t reached that stage yet, how do you plan to approach it?

It’s one of the best lessons I ever learned from my kids’ paternal grandmother.

Toddlers have notoriously short attention spans. They also have very few resources from which to draw to know how to effectively and calmly express their emotions. The result? A little person with unpredictable moods and unstable actions.

Distraction is simple, really. So obvious, it’s easy to overlook. I mean, who wants to be constantly saying “no” and engaging in a battle of wills with a person who still wets his pants? Especially when the solution is so much more pleasant, gets parents a lot further and almost always works?

Let’s say, for example, your 2-year-old decides that she doesn’t want to take a nap. (That never happens, right?) Instead of engaging her in a power struggle, you tell her she can play for 2 more minutes (they have no concept of time, after all) and then show her how to march to her bed. This takes the focus off of bed and puts it on how we’re getting to bed. Marching worked wonders with my kids. I felt like an idiot sometimes, chanting, “March, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, hup, two, three, four,” and marching somewhere, but they thought it was a hoot. It always, without fail, distracted them from my goal.

Singing is another amazing tool that most parents don’t use enough. When a child is upset or pouting, often singing some silly songs will put him right back into his previously cheerful mood.

I’m not advocating avoiding discipline. We all know kids have to be disciplined at times. For a child who is too young to understand the reasons behind her parents’ instructions though, distraction is almost always the only thing that’s needed once you’ve said, “I don’t want you to do that.” There will be plenty of time for explaining the whys of your rules later.

After all, you want to enjoy his toddler years, right? Explore the wonder, the magic, the joy toddlers find in everything. Be goofy, be ridiculous, embarrass yourself. Pick her up and move her to another area. Surprise her with a short tickle session. Make up a story. Be spontaneous. Tell him what you need him to know, i.e., he shouldn’t be pulling the baby’s hair, and move him along to a new activity.

Some distracting activities:

♥ coloring, with washable crayons, of course

♥ singing

♥ having her copy your actions, i.e., clap your hands, stomp your feet, twirl, etc.

♥ going for a walk

♥ marching to your destination

♥ getting a snack and/or drink

The possibilities are endless.

Try it. And come back to let me know how it works for you.

Do you already or have you used distraction with your toddler? Have you found it to be effective?

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Have you entered my giveaway for a LeapFrog Tag Junior Book Pal bundle? Take a second and enter to win!