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Browsing Tag: Toddler
Any parent of a toddler is very familiar with tantrums. Toddlers will scream, throw themselves on the floor, and squeeze some tear out for the most irrational reasons. Believe it or not, there is a reason for this: a toddler’s sense of order is just coming into play. If you want to read more in-depth about the sense of order, read this post here.
But imagine if you were an explorer and you mapped out an area before you went to bed. When you wake up in the morning and look outside, everything is different. How confusing and frustrating it would be. That is what the world is like for toddlers. From the time a child is born, they map their world. My toys are in that basket, the couch is over there, the coffee table is there. If we rearrange or even move something small, we are messing up their world. We have offended their sense of order and they just want their world to stay the same.
Anecdotally, I can tell you I have seen numerous tantrums caused by a disruption to routine or physical space. Sadly, many parents seem clueless to the cause and just end up frustrated. Sometimes after a few days where a child has seemed “off” with their mood, we find out one of the parents is on a business trip and their morning routine has been totally different. No wonder they are having trouble! So what can we do? We can keep their map intact. There are two simple ways to do that: keep things tidy and stick to a routine.
Does your toddler cry when you fold laundry a different way? Were they inconsolable when you suggested walking a different way to the park? Or do they demand that you sing the same dumb song every time they are in the bathtub because you made the mistake of doing it one time? Well good news, your toddler isn’t a dictator or drama queen in the making, they are just getting their sense of order.
I’ll admit, I love to browse Pinterest. It is fun to not only find new ideas to try, but also to dream about what my house could look like. It seems like some people have their entire house ready for photographs at any moment. So when I first started to reorganize Mac’s toy closet, I had half a thought to try to make it picture perfect. After that half second of madness, I stopped myself because toy storage doesn’t have to be pretty! It just has to be functional. So here is a not Pinterest perfect example of toy storage (where toys live when they aren’t in the toy rotation.)
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. That means if you buy through my link, I may receive compensation at no extra cost to you. For more information, see my disclosure page here.
When most people hear the term “Montessori” they automatically think we are all hippie dippies (and I kind of am, but you can read about what the heck Montessori is.) You might wonder what Mac as a Montessori kid has for toys at home. So here is a peek into what she has available to her during the day. I switch out her toys weekly. All of these things are toys that Mac and I both love. Just keep in mind two things:
- She is 15 months old as I write this. I have a large range of things available, from more “baby” toys that are favorites of hers and things that are well above her age range because I like to challenge her, even in areas where she may already be ahead.
- I believe in moderation. While I follow many of the Montessori ideals (like simple, non-electronic, wooden toys), I do allow some that don’t follow those guidelines. I have a general rule about no electronic toys, but I do have a few that I let slide. I also strive to provide Mac with toys mostly made of wood and other natural materials, but there are exceptions. I’ll show those and more to you below.
Toys can be so overwhelming sometimes. Everyone and their brother wants to give your kids a toy until one day you turn around and every square inch of your living room is covered in toys. But why do you need so many? The kids only play with a few at a time anyway. That is where toy rotation comes in.
What is a Toy Rotation?
It is pretty straight forward. You take the majority of your child’s toys and you put them away, only leaving out a select few toys for them to play with. Ideally, the toys have a very specific place in the house and once there, you rotate them often. I talked about where Mac’s toys are when I made my living room Montessori.
After having Mac help me with some household chores the last few days, I just wanted to quickly remind everyone that a toddler helping you isn’t helpful. What I mean is that asking a toddler to help you do a chore isn’t going to speed it along and get the job done. You have a toddler help for three reasons: future practice, interest and getting things done. If you need a few ideas, read my post about Four Simple Ways Toddlers Can Help Clean Up.
Future Practice
Now, obviously we all want children who pitch in and help keep the house running. You live here, you take care of it. But parents tend to make the mistake of requiring children to do chores when they are older, instead of right away. Having toddlers help (or “help” as it should maybe be phrased) sets them up to doing more in the future. If you expect them to carry their dishes to the sink as a toddler, it becomes a habit. As long as you start small, you can build up as their skills increase.
In the picture above, Mac was taking the clean socks and putting them in that box. Did I really need socks in a box? No, I did not need socks in a box. (Whoa there Dr. Seuss.) But did she enjoy helping? Yes, and she even put the socks in the basket when I was filling it back up with folded laundry. As Mac grows, I’ll have her start with something easy like stacking washcloths and we will work up from there.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. That means if you buy through my link, I may receive compensation at no extra cost to you. For more information, see my disclosure page here.
I am working towards being a minimalist in my entire life. It might be a struggle, but I am definitely a minimalist when it comes to raising a child. There were plenty of things that were “must-haves” that we didn’t buy and haven’t missed. One thing we did accumulate, however, was cloth diapers. Now, I have been good and I don’t have a ginormous stash (although it is hard not to buy every single cute cloth diaper I find), but I have found three cloth diaper accessories that we couldn’t live without. One can even be used with disposable diapers too. (Make sure you take a listen to my cloth diapering 101 podcast.)
It is so important for toddlers to spend time outside. Not only is the fresh air and even the dirt important to keep them healthy, there are many things outside that they can’t do inside. Walking on uneven, outdoor ground helps with gross motor skills and simply having more room to move is great! But sometimes it is hard to know what to do with a toddler outside. So, I have a list of simple and cheap things to do outside with toddlers. These aren’t revolutionary ideas, but are ideas that have much more merit than just being playtime.
Mac is a high-spirited child if I have ever seen one. She has very definite ideas and when she decides to do something, she does it. Which is why she started walking at 9 months and now at 14 months can already climb to the top of the playground climber. In fact, she just figured out how to climb on the couch. She was pretty pleased with herself.
As a high-spirited child, she is so insanely curious that she has to explore everything and anything. Every time we think we have “Mac-proofed” the house, she proves us wrong.
Life can be quite challenging with her because she lives life at 100 mph. She is on the go constantly, only sitting down to read a few books here and there, but never at a convenient time for me to get things done of course. She finds anything we have accidentally left within her reach, any flaw in our childproofing system.
I shouldn’t be surprised by her because she definitely takes after my side of the family, personality wise. I should’ve been prepared to have a baby who never sits still and is always looking for adventure.
Some days I want to tear my hair out because I get so frustrated with her. But then, come moments like this:
When she is so sweet and serene. Despite the fact that she is NOT a sleeper, I am sometimes tempted to wake her up because I miss her.
But I let her sleep because I’m not a total idiot.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. That means if you buy through my link, I may receive compensation at no extra cost to you. For more information, see my disclosure page here.
When Mac was too old for a co-sleeper bassinet (read about where she slept as a newborn here), she moved into a Montessori floor bed. I already explained what a floor bed is and why we chose it (read about that here), but today I wanted to talk about where we set up the floor bed to start with.
Once Mac grew out of the bassinet, I already knew I wanted to have her in the floor bed. The problem was our two bedroom townhouse had our bedroom and another “bedroom” masquerading as a storage unit. I also wasn’t ready to have Mac move so far away from me. So I started to search the internet, looking for inspiration to share a room with Mac and her Montessori floor bed. But I couldn’t find anyone who had a floor bed in their own bedroom. Well, we went on to successfully share a room with Mac’s bed for six months, so I thought I would talk about how we did it.
Update: If you’d like to see her floor bed after she moved into her own room, you can read about it here. Make sure you also check out why she bed shares with us part time.
