I love to hear from other parents and I am especially appreciative when I get parenting tips here on the Toddlers site. Below, you'll find advice and parenting tips submitted by readers and you can submit your own advice for fellow parents in the trenches.
Gone are the days when your child would eat pretty much anything you loaded onto a spoon. Now it's macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets, pizza and grilled cheese without crusts. You want your toddler to eat more nutritious food. You want your toddler to eat a variety of food. But you also don't want to withhold the few foods he will eat for fear he won't eat anything at all. So, how do you cope? How do you get your toddler to eat more than just his favorites? Do you sneak it in? Have you ever told your toddler a little white lie to get him to eat something new? Get parenting tips on dealing with a picky eater or share your own tips.
Toddler discipline can be tricky. What works one day might fail the next and what works for one child won't work for another. Even different stages of development bring about the need to try different discipline techniques. How do you handle discipline at your house? Have you found some situations more difficult to handle than others? Get tips on how to handle your toddler's behavior or share with other parents the discipline methods that have already worked for your family.
What are the board books your toddler fell in love with? Are they the same books you loved as a child? Get tips on good toddler board books or share your toddler's favorites.
When your toddler starts reaching into a diaper (or underwear) it can be a little disconcerting at first, especially if it happens in public. Has your child ever done this and, if so, how did you handle the situation?
Some parents want their children to say they are having a bowel movement while others encourage their children to say they're going poop. You say penis, I say wiener. What words did you decide to use? Were these words that your own parents used with you or did you decide to go a different way? Find tips on words to use with your toddler or share the words you've already used while potty training.
Toddlers love being outside and coming up with new games to play and activities to explore keeps them active and healthy. What are some of the things you do outside with your toddler? Learn what other parents are doing outdoors with their toddlers or share your toddler's favorite games and activities with other parents.
After you have kids, trying to remember all the things to pack in the diaper bag before you head out the door ranks right up there with, "Did I turn the stove off?" and "Did I lock all the doors?" Still, once you manage to get out of the house, it always seems like you've forgotten something. I always felt like I was carting around so much when my son was a baby, but I was surprised to find that once he reached toddlerhood, his diaper bag easily weighed twice as much. What are some of the essentials that you pack in your toddler's diaper bag? What can you just not live without when you're on the go? Get diaper bag-packing tips or share what's in your bag now that your child has become a toddler.
Toddler are notoriously picky eaters sometimes and it can seem like you're eating the same thing night after night. How do you spice things up and move beyond the pizza / macaroni / chicken finger rotation? Get new ideas for feeding your toddler or share your own meal and recipe ideas with other parents in the same boat.
Road trips with toddlers can be an absolute blast. But we all know about those moments that are a complete bust, too. So, how do you keep your sanity when your toddler is engaged in a full-blown tantrum in the backseat and you're nowhere near a rest stop? Better yet, how do you manage to keep your toddler occupied so there's no tantrum to begin with? Get tips on how to handle your next trip with a toddler or share your best ideas with other parents.
Getting your toddler to help around the house by performing small tasks and chores is a great way to build self-esteem, instill confidence and teach self-help skills. See what chores parents are giving their toddlers or share some of the chores your toddler is capable of doing.
In a world full of television, electronic games and other sedentary activities it can be hard to keep our toddlers active and fit. Add to that the already busy lives that families have (and lots of time in the car) and it can be hard to find the time to fit regular physical activities into the schedule. How do you manage to keep your toddler active and fit? Get tips on keeping your toddler active or share your tips and ideas with other parents.
Sometimes holidays and celebrations have a disposable nature and this can be one of the last places where we make changes that have already been applied in other areas of our lives. Here, get new tips or share any ideas, large or small, that you're implementing to make Easter a more environmentally friendly celebration in your family.
