Help with disciplining my happygolucky 2yos?

antes22

I have really great kids. They are easy going, happy kids who do not throw tantrums and are typically very logical and listen pretty well. I can take them to the grocery store, restaurants, parks etc and we usually have a great time. They are really good for toddlers.

The problem comes on those times when they don't listen or are dileberately disobedient and I have to discipline them. They don't take anything seriously and everything is a laughing joke to them. Time-outs, taking toys away etc, mean nothing to them. If they are doing something wrong with a toy (hitting the dog with their plastic golf clubs for example) I'll say,  please don't hit the dog with your golf club or I will take it from you. They either laugh and keep doing it or just smile and come hand me the golf club! If I threaten a time out, they happily sit in time out laughing. 

Today I told Eli that he had to clean up his blocks so that we could take a walk. He refuses to do it and laughs at me the whole time I'm trying to get him to do it. And I know he understands because when we finally got them put away (20 minutes later) he said, "walk?" and by then it was too late to go.

 Anyways if you are still reading thank you for letting me vent. 99% of the time they are great but this morning was a frustrating morning. I don't know how to get through to them about consequences when they don't see anything as discipline. Any ideas?

peekaboo716

At this age (my DD is just a little older), I have found re-direction to still be effective and my go-to "discipline" strategy.

She does what your boys do - giggle, laugh, etc. My DD doesn't understand time-outs yet, so we usually take things away, and give her something else that is more appropriate to redirect her. As for clean-up, we do it together as a game (how fast can you put the blocks in the toy box?)