Your 2-Year-Old​: Nasty Habits

Nasty Habits

Ever wonder where bad habits start? Whining, using "naughty" words, shrieking, sticking one's tongue out, hitting, and the like often begin by accident. It happens once — a bad word is overheard and repeated — and creates an instant strong reaction in you that makes your child think, "Wow! Let's do that again!" Ignoring minor misdeeds and calmly correcting major ones is the best way to nip unpleasant behavior in the bud.

Your 2-year-old now
You're so proud of your angel's burgeoning vocabulary — until words like "poopie head," " stupid," "dummy," and worse creep in. "Bad" words are all around your child: They hear grownups cursing at traffic, pick up foul language from TV, and trade exciting words (the ones that seem to get a rise out of Mom or Dad) with playmates and siblings. Alliterative silly words ("poopy doopy") are favorites because they are so fun to say and hear. The quickest way to make this kind of language disappear is to ignore it. If you make a fuss, you're only showing them how powerful certain words are, which makes them want to say them all the more.

Your life now
You used to be able to dress your child in the adorable items of your choosing, and so long as she didn't decide to strip naked, that was that. Now she seems to have opinions about everything she wears: This shirt is too "scratchy," or "I want my blue top (again)." A budding fashionista? No, just a typical preschooler exerting her independence.

Try not to get hung up on what she looks like. Unless she's being formally photographed, it really isn't worth a power struggle. One tricky situation is refusing to wear a coat in the cold. Instead of insisting, try giving her a little face-saving space: "Okay, I'll just bring it along in case." If it's really cold out, she'll put it on. If she doesn't, she'll get cold and may need to leave the park earlier — a natural consequence for her behavior. Exception: really bad weather. Then you just have to make proper dressing a household rule: "No going outside to play in the snow (or walk in the rain) without coats."