Quote:
His little brother is coming in July and we don't want any problems.
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BAHAHAHAHAHA!!
I know you didn't mean it the way it reads, but just taken by itself, that's truly funny. Okay, now to the real bit.
Camille will be 2 in 2 weeks. We don't usually have to do a lot of discipline with her, but when we do, I usually spank her. I think 12 months to 3 years is the best time for spankings. A firm "No!" is often good, but of course the kid learns it, too. The day I was making something for lunch and Camille stamped her foot and said, "NO! I want hot dog NOW!" I laughed too hard to tell her not to speak to me that way.
The hard thing with a toddler is that while they understand tons of words, they don't always understand the direction or intent behind them. So they know "No," "hit," and "your sister," but they don't understand, "I am your father and you are commanded not to hit your sister." So you have to teach them with words plus consequences.
I would say a time-out up to 2 minutes is appropriate at this time, but I've never had much success with time-outs with either of the kids. The most successful disciplinary tool with Camille has been, "If you hit her again, I will spank you." I also use counting to 3 (this way, they learn counting, too!) in conjunction with warnings of consequences.
If your little one has no sleeping problems, you can always use the crib as an isolation area for time outs if necessary. I'm not a believer that the crib can only be a place for sleep unless there are other indications that it needs to be. After all, I sit and read in bed, watch Netflix in bed, fold laundry on the bed, etc. Camille likes to play on Big Sister's bed, often plays in her crib when she wakes up early, and stands or sits in her crib when we're vacuuming the kids' bedroom. So there's a potential for that if time outs are difficult when other kids are in the home.
I also encourage you not to worry too much about him comprehending the punishment. First, kids are brighter than we give them credit for. Second, they don't have to understand something
completely to understand an
appropriate measure of it for their age. Think of it like language itself - you don't have a philosophical discourse with your kid, but you also don't speak to them only in words they already understand. They learn articles because we use them all the time even though they don't. Likewise for prepositions and conjunctions. Camille has recently begun identifying pairs of objects as "two papers" or "two balls" even though I've not intentionally taught it to her. Discipline can work like that, too. Don't ground him from XBox for a week, obviously, but don't worry too much about how much he comprehends, either, if the discipline
feels appropriate.