It’s remarkable how different parenting tactics are effective for one child or age group but not another. Like most toddlers and preschoolers, my daughters have tested boundaries when given the chance.

In my experience, naughty behaviour is more common when children are hyper (like on a sugar high) or hungry or tired (sleepy or crashing from a sugar high) which are things that can be monitored or controlled most of the time. Inappropriate behaviour can also be caused by things like the desire for attention, not thinking before acting, and of course, curiosity and mischievousness. As parents we know there can be a fine line between teaching, disciplining and breaking their spirit! I’m not a huge fan of disciplining and prefer communication though sometimes that can be tough.

We don’t want to walk away from our children when they’re upset bc it tends to teach them that there’s something wrong with how they’re feeling (and also sometimes shows that we can’t handle that emotion ourselves as adults!).

As discussed in the vlog below, the timeout bubble worked like a charm for me almost every time with my daughters from the time they were toddlers to around Kindergarten age. And it was preferable to me losing my marbles and yelling. Plus it applied to me too as a parent!

As they’ve gotten older, family discussions and taking things away tends to be more a more effective way of curbing unacceptable behaviour.

Please share your ideas and experiences with communication and discipline below!