Eps 48: Taming the Toddlers and Haters with Julietta Skoog

Welcome! My guest today is a dear friend, Julietta Skoog, who is a positive discipline trainer. She joined us as a guest on Episode 4 about Family Meetings. It’s hard to believe that we’re here at Episode 48 now! I’m so thrilled to have Julietta back again so that we can all benefit from her wealth of parenting knowledge. She teaches many classes and workshops for parents, in addition to being a school counselor and psychologist in Seattle, where she works with hundreds of students. Her most important parenting work, however, is at home with her children, ages 4 and 7. Today’s topic is all about Toddlers—raising them and dealing with those around us who might not agree with our parenting methods. Join us!

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Toddlers are biologically driven to explore the world through visual learning and touch.
• We need to find a way to bridge between our world and their world.
• They need to know that you hear them and understand them.
• Connect with them, see them, and hear them.
• With 2-3 year olds, redirection and distraction can be effective tools to move them on to what they need to do next.
• What it means to “get them to the second location”
• With older toddlers, use curiosity questions and give them a wait time.
• With younger toddlers, limit their choices to ones that you’re ok with.
• Mutual respect is essential—even with toddlers!
• Help them get excited about the next step with PLAY.
• Use deep firmness and structure.
• How should we handle destructive behaviors?
  • Speak consistently
  • Model connection and firmness
  • Supervise!
• Model and help them learn empathy
• Transitions cause anxiety for kids, so do your prevention work!

In dealing with others’ opinions, remember that we’re all challenged as parents; we’re all doing the best we can with the tools we have.

Resources:

www.besproutable.com (Julietta has video examples and other parenting resources.)

Julietta's website l Facebook 

Join the Joyful Courage Facebook group: Live and Love with Courage.