The Happiest Baby on the Block and The Happiest Toddler on the Block 2-Book Bundle pdfdrive com

Help Your Toddler Express
Feelings
Young toddlers (12–24 months): Model for your child how to vent her
feelings. For example, when she’s mad stomp your feet, clap your hands,
and shake your head vigorously, and teach her to say “No!” (“Evelyn
says, ‘No, no, no! Mine, mine! Stop now!’”)
Older toddlers (2–4 years old): When things are calm, have your tot
practice different faces: “Show me your happy face … your sad
face … your mad face.” Point out pictures in books and say “Look at that
sad baby. How do you look when you’re sad?” Cut out magazine pictures
of people showing emotions and put them on cardboard cards or in a
little “feelings book.” Demonstrate your facial expressions so she can see
what you mean: “When I get mad my eyes get small and my mouth gets
tight like this [make face].”
Teach your child the words to use when she’s upset. Use pictures in
the “feelings book” as a starting point. Ask, “How does that boy feel?
Why is that girl sad?” Enrich your child’s vocabulary by using different
words. For example, for “mad” you might also use: angry, furious,
miffed, boiling, red-hot, etc.

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Amazingly, the more you practice these simple steps, the sooner your
child will start to gain control of her emotional outbursts.
Now that you are getting the hang of the Fast-Food Rule, you’re ready
to learn the second step in becoming the perfect “ambassador”: the
perfect way to make the FFR work with any toddler … the language
called Toddler-ese.

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“Pay attention to what you like and ignore or
discourage the rest.”
—Karp’s law of successful parenting
Main Points:
• Toddler-ese is your toddler’s “native tongue.”
• You can translate anything into Toddler-ese with three simple
steps: short phrases, repetition, and mirroring a bit of your
child’s feelings (using your tone of voice and gestures).
• The more you practice Toddler-ese, the better you get at it.
• Amazingly, all of us automatically use Toddler-ese with our
young children … when they’re happy. But we often forget to
use it when they’re upset.
If you were the ambassador to China but only spoke Greek, trust me,
you’d have problems! Likewise, talking with your toddler will be a

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hundred times easier once you learn the simple steps to translate your
words into his “native” language: Toddler-ese.
I discovered Toddler-ese by accident. Like most pediatricians, I dealt
with twenty tantrums a day from toddlers who hated being at the
doctor’s. Then I began to notice that when I echoed a bit of the child’s
upset feelings back—using a very simple style of language—I could
usually convert their crying to laughter (or at least cooperation) in
minutes … or less!