Natalie

Sorry, I realize that I probably should have created a new post with
my response to the Alphie Kohn thread:

I had posted about 2 1/2 year old behaviors (or frustrations),
wondering how you would handle them from an unschooling approach:

toothbrushing
hitting
terrorizing the cat
potty training process

I am very excited about this group and have learned so much from
just taking a look through the posts.

I am new to the group and have a 2 1/2 year old daughter. We are
planning to homeschool and I am in the process of learning as much
as I can ;-)

Best of Health,
Natalie

Sandra Dodd

-=-I had posted about 2 1/2 year old behaviors (or frustrations),
wondering how you would handle them from an unschooling approach:

toothbrushing
hitting
terrorizing the cat
potty training process-=-



I'll tell some things I did.

I didn't force toothbrushing in any hold-them-down way at all. I
would say "let me brush for a month," and I would stand behind and
brush while singing the days of the week to Yankee Doodle. One
"week" per quarter of mouth. Sometimes they'd let me do more. I
would tell them the whole song was a month! But some months had
extra days.

Hitting...

I'd hold the child and talk about the hitting while removing her from
the area and saying hitting doesn't help, hitting makes it worse or
whatever seemed appropriate, and sometimes rocking (swaying) helped.
The older they got the more likely I was (especially with the boys)
to remind them that hitting is illegal and they need to figure out
other things to do. That if daddy hit a man he would have to go to
jail, and even big strong people learn to use words or to walk away.

Don't talk her to death, just say real things, as appropriate each
time. Maybe dance to music while you're holding her. Maybe she just
needs a different point of view, time to breathe and relax.

terrorizing the cat:

I said "NO." I defended the kids from the pets and the pets from the
kids. I reminded them about claws and teeth, and said "touch nice or
don't touch at all."

potty training process:

I changed diapers until they wanted to stop using diapers.

Marty needed nighttime something (small adult diapers worked better
than pull-ups) for several years, and I just was patient and cheerful
because it's cheaper to use a diaper than to wash the covers every
day and buy a new mattress after a while.

Let it be gradual. Let them go more naked on warmer days, let them
play naked in the back yard if that's an option and they want to.

Sandra






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Shannon Foust

We are really laid back about potty-training..and all of ours used the potty before 4 (most before 3). Anyway, I have a funny story about that -- my now 3 year old ds has been using the potty like a girl. Every now and then he wants to try it "like daddy" but it never worked out. So this week, he stood up to the pot and tried it like a boy and it made it. He looked at me so excited and said..

"I did it! I'm strong! (flexing muscles) "No wait" (perplexed look on his face)

... "I'm Tall!!" It was priceless - hysterical!!


Shannon
www.myspace.com/soldout641
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1040601130
www.homeschoolblogger.com/soldout841





between 0000-00-00 and 9999-99-99

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]