Hi

Can anyone offer any advice or tips?

My lo is 17 months and has always been cheeky and a bit of a handful. Recently she has got worse and finds such delight in breaking things on purpose and will not do anything I ask.

When she is being naughty I get down to her level and calmly tell her no but she either will not look at me and runs away or laughs in my face and goes back to breaking something or tormenting the cats.

I really do not know what else to try. The naughty step is no good as she loves sitting on the stairs or on a door mat. I did try putting her into her cotbed for 5 mins after telling her no but someone said you should not use the cot to punish her.

Has anyone got any advice?

Thanks x

hi hun, my lo went through this stage when she was 19ths- it was a big attention thing for her, if i was brushing her sisters hair for example, she would go and throw all the photos on the floor looking at me laughing....i started ignoring her when she was doin this and she soon got the msg and stopped doin it as it wasnt getting the attention she wanted. have u tried ignoring her- as long as shes not doin anything dangerous. when she hit 2yrs she seemed to calm down a lot, so hopefully will be the same for you. i would persevere with the naughty spot- my dd does go on there and i literally put her there and walk away and go bk in 2mins she then apologises. if she gets of before the time is up, take her bk there without talking to her, she will begin to realise shes getting no reaction from you. shes prob testing the boundaries atm to c how far she can push you which is completely normal. xxxx

I agree with Butterfly. She's too young to understand the concept of a naughty step or corner and I think ignoring her is the best way forward. Even negative attention is still attention from you.

As long as its not dangerous then totally ignore her, don't even catch her eye and if she is doing something you instantly want her to stop then just pick her up sit her in the middle of floor and walk away from her and don't give her eye contact. She may come up to you wanting your attention but i'd just turn away for a few minutes. Then pick her up look her in the eye and explain why you want her to stop doing what she was doing.

this did work with my son.

at that age, they are not really being naughty but simply exploring the world and enjoying your reactions, I went through a stage like that and my son is now 19 months, I just tried to keep calm, didn't show too much emotion, didn't give too much attention and instead really over exaggerated when i praised great behaviour, Often babies that age and until they are three just have overwhelming urges and not much understanding of who it might upset you, or even what upset is! To your toddler you have no feelings! move things out of her way calmly and say no firmly, but it will pass, and she is probably loving the extream reactions and attention she gets from doing it!