Discipline and what worked for us

After speaking with my sister, Lauren and reading her blog, I decided to write a little bit about what has worked for us in regards to disciplining Seth. One thing my sister wrote about was how her daughter Kate does not lay still for diaper changes. Well, Seth used to be awful about this. I used to get so frustrated and yell "no" at him. It never worked and he just laughed at me and wiggled away with poop residue still on his hiney. In an attempt to minimize my use of the word "no", I knew that I had to try something else! When he started his tantrum during diaper changes, I just physically held him down and told him to "wait". I didn't attempt to change him, I just held him until he eventually gave in and knew he wasn't going to win this fight. It took a while, but he now understands the word "wait". I did have to move him off his changing table and change him on the floor now instead. Not only did I have to do this because he was so wiggly, but he also exceeded the weight limit already! Okay, so another discipline approach that has worked sooooo well for us is positive reinforcement. I know...duh, that's a no brainer, but seriously, I am talking about over the top enthusiam for the things Seth does right. I have learned to pick my battles and now understand that it is the attention that he is looking for even if I am saying no to him...that's what he wants! Kinda an off note, but I now use the word no only for dangerous situations, at least I'm trying! For example, Seth has learned to push the buttons on the TV. At first it was frustrating and we kept telling him no, but he would just laugh and do it again. Well now, we just ignore him and since he is not getting any attention from doing it, he just walks away and finds something else to do. So ignoring certain behaviors has been working for us. Okay, so back to the positive reinforcement...here is an example where it has worked wonders for us. Seth used to throw his sippy cup off of his tray at every meal. Now, he hasn't done it honestly in months! What we do is everytime he takes a sip and puts it back on his table without throwing it, we make a huge, over the top deal about it. By doing this, he gets the attention he has been craving and now he knows that if he puts his cup back on the tray then he will get that attention where if he throws it he gets no attention at all. So of course he is going to choose to put it on his tray for now on. Also, even with diaper changes. When he is really good and sits still thru the whole diaper change, I really praise him and tell him specifically what he did right. I will say "oh Seth, thank you so much for sitting still and letting mama change your diaper. What a GOOD boy!". This approach is definitely working wonders for us!