Experiencing strong emotions? Assist your two-year-old in understanding them by labeling these feelings and demonstrating acceptable ways to express them. It’s the right time to reduce (but not completely cut) her fat intake while providing a balanced diet. Foster her expanding vocabulary by identifying the location of objects and enhancing (without correcting) her phrases. As she phases out her morning nap, ensure she gets a quality afternoon nap. Additionally, organize the growing number of toys into bins to maintain order!
Big emotions
A child this age wears their heart on their sleeve—and expresses it through their voice, fists, stamping feet, and crocodile tears. You rarely have to guess a 2-year-old’s emotional state. Expressing emotions is healthy, even when they aren’t happy ones, so don’t feel obligated to rush in and placate your child at the first pout or sad sniffle.
Let your child know that it’s okay to be unhappy sometimes—it’s simply part of life. Swooping in to vanquish unhappiness sends the wrong message: that it’s not okay to feel sad or mad. Solving every problem for your child also robs them of the opportunity to work through their feelings on their own.
What you can do: Help your child label their feelings. “You’re so mad at Mommy because she said no park today!” Let them know you experience the same feelings sometimes: “It makes you feel sad when we say bye-bye to Grandma. It makes me feel sad, too.” If your child screams or hits when they’re angry or upset, show them acceptable ways to vent their emotion, like punching a pillow or stamping their feet.
Easier to Get Along With
If you’re bracing yourself for the infamous “terrible twos,” take a moment to relax. It’s actually the second year of life (the one you’ve just navigated) that is among the more challenging developmentally. The actual “twos” tend to be a bit calmer and even more enjoyable, despite your child’s sometimes overwhelming emotions.
Now, your child can move about confidently and play with less assistance. They can communicate their desires better than before and understand even more than they can express. Their boundless curiosity is now balanced, at least somewhat, by an increasing grasp of rules.
Two-year-olds do test limits and sometimes disagree with parents, but they’re also developing a stronger desire to please you. They want to be good! They want to help! Establishing routines and maintaining consistency in your responses help your child learn the ropes and keep everyday life running smoothly.
Changing Diet Needs
It’s time to adjust your child’s diet: Once your child turns 2, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends reducing their fat intake to less than 30 percent of their daily calories.
One way to achieve this is by gradually switching to lower-fat dairy products. Consult your pediatrician for specific guidelines tailored to your child.
You don’t need to monitor fat intake excessively, and you should never eliminate fats entirely. Your 2-year-old’s growing brain and body rely on healthy fats for proper development, and many dairy products that contain fat are also excellent sources of calcium.
For the rest of their diet, provide a balanced mix of whole grains, lean meats or beans, fruits, and vegetables.
As your child grows, they will start to look more like a “big kid,” with limbs and torso lengthening and proportions beginning to resemble those of an adult. They will gain about 2 1/2 inches and 4 pounds this year.
If you’re concerned about your child’s weight, consult their doctor rather than imposing dietary restrictions on your own. Children have different nutritional needs than adults, so professional guidance is crucial.
Places and Spaces
A toddler is aware only of what’s immediately before them. But by age 2, a child begins to understand the relative placements of things, and their grasp of space—where people and objects are—expands between 2 and 2 1/2. This includes concepts such as “there,” “where,” “inside” and “outside,” “go away,” “near” and “far,” “way up in the sky,” and “over” and “under.” They’re also developing a better sense of size, quantity, and other spatial relationships.
You can see this new grasp of spatial thinking in the words they pick up and in their growing ability to follow directions: “Bring me the ball that’s over in the corner.” “Look on top of the bed.”
Ways to Reinforce This New Understanding:
- Talk about where people in their life are when they’re not with them: “Daddy’s at work.” “Grandma lives far away.”
- Play games that involve moving toys on, in, or through other objects.
- Give a series of simple instructions that involve different directions, such as first putting a toy on the chair, then under the chair, and then giving it back to you.
- Ask questions that prompt them to think about location: “Where do birds live?” “Where do airplanes fly?” “Where’s the door?” Don’t expect a correct answer every time or turn it into a quiz; just make questions like these part of your everyday conversation.
Afternoon Naps
Once your child has dropped their morning nap, the afternoon one becomes more important than ever. Be mindful of the number of errands you do in a row and keep an eye on the clock. Try to be home by naptime. Kids who fall asleep in a car seat or stroller do rest, but their quality of sleep isn’t the same as when they sleep in a bed.
Vocabulary Building
Your child’s vocabulary is rapidly expanding. Research shows that children whose parents talk to them frequently build larger vocabularies. So, provide plenty of conversation. In addition to the comforting and nurturing words from daily activities, discuss less familiar topics, like lions and tigers in books or zoos, or changes in the neighborhood.
A typical 24-month-old knows about 50 to 75 words and is working toward the next big milestone: stringing them together into phrases and sentences. Two-word noun-verb sentences are common at this age: “baby sleep” and “want milk.” She’ll likely start expressing herself in longer sentences as the year progresses. If your child uses fewer than 20 words, it’s advisable to test for hearing problems.
Encouraging Sentence Formation:
- Expand on Bare-Bones Phrases: In your reply, build on her simple sentences: “You want Mommy to help you put your sock on.” “Okay, Daddy will play ball with Lucy.”
- Avoid Correcting Grammar: Casually repeat the sentence using the correct words, but don’t point out mistakes. It’s too early for grammar lessons.
- Don’t Insist on Repetition: Prompting with full, proper sentences like, “Can you say, ‘Mommy, help me with my sock?'” can disrupt the flow and frustrate your child.
- Interactive Reading: Read often and interactively, asking your child questions about what they see on the page or what they think will happen next.
Organizing the Toys
If you’re feeling like the clutter around your house is growing along with your child, you’re not alone. Two-year-olds continue to acquire toys rapidly, and many of these toys—blocks, puzzles, car collections—come with multiple parts that they love to dump out and mix up.
Individual bins for each type of toy can help keep things organized. Empty diaper-wipe boxes are an inexpensive way to keep track of smaller parts. Save yourself clean-up time by putting out only one or two bins of toys at a time. This keeps the toys more interesting and the floor tidier, too.
