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

Step 2: Lovingly turn away. If your tot continues whining,
withdraw your attention with kindness. “You’re crying and mad!
Daddy loves you so much, you go ahead and cry and I’ll be right
back!” Then walk to the other side of the room or sit right by
your child, but pretend not to look at her.
Now act busy for twenty seconds (not so much to make her
panic but enough to make your point).
Key point:
As soon as your child stops the annoyance,
promptly return, lovingly echo her feelings again, and then offer
your message of reassurance, explanation, etc. Finally, feed the
meter (hug, give attention, play, or play the boob) for a minute
to reward her cooperation.
Step 3: Return … and try again. If your child continues the
yellow-light behavior, return when the twenty seconds are up
and repeat steps 1 and 2 a few times until your uncivilized friend
starts to calm down.
If your child is particularly stubborn, her crying may persist
despite several attempts at kind ignoring. In that case, turn your
back for a longer time—a minute or two—until she quiets. Once
she calms, return and try to engage her in some play. (Don’t be
surprised if she resists at first. She may need to ignore you for a
few minutes to save her pride.)
If the misbehavior persists, or escalates, despite kind ignoring,
you are now in a red-light situation. This requires a stronger
“take-charge” consequence, like time-out, described in the next
chapter.
Other behaviors that warrant a “take-charge” consequence
include any actions that are dangerous or aggressive or that
break an important family rule. I discuss all of these situations
and how to deal with them in the next chapter.
Warning: When you first try kind ignoring the pestering may temporarily

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get worse before it gets better. Psychologists call this an extinction burst.
Your child thinks, Hmmm … whining always worked before. Maybe Mom
just didn’t hear me. I better follow her into the next room and yell louder so
she hears me! But stick with it and you’ll soon see big improvements.

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