When will this toddler listen?

Question

I have a 16 month old and she runs all over my house. I tell her "no running" over and over again but she just keeps running and laughs. What am I supposed to do? Do i punish her?

Answer 1

Catch her, and put her in time out, set her down somewhere and firmly say to her, "You will sit here for, (how ever many minutes) because you are in timeout." Then leave and set the timer, add a minute for how old she is, Ex: 4 Yrs Old, 4 Min. 6 Yrs Old, 6 Minutes. If she gets up, replace her, and reset the timer, do not say anything when replacing her. It may take a while, but it works if you've ever seen "Supernanny" Sometimes it takes 2 hours! But it finally works.

When she decides to sit still, and the timer goes off, then go to her and say, "I put you in timeout because you were running around the house when I asked you to stop." Then ask for an apology and a hug, and then let her play as usual. Keep with that routine and then she'll finally realize she needs to listen to you. Don't ever spank... to me, its Child Abuse.  

Answer 2

Does she have a place that it's appropriate to run? The path of least resistance might be to take her outside and let her run around like crazy for a while (get the wiggles out, so to speak), so that she's ready to play a bit less actively in the house.

If the no running in the house is a safety issue, then you really do need to find a way to make her understand. I'm not much of a believer in punishment -- this is an opportunity for her to learn a rule/boundary, but you don't need to make it punitive, just firm. Time outs work for some kids (not so well for mine at that age, but it's a temperment thing...) Just be calm and firm about it. At that age, they love it when they can wind you up :)

Good luck :)

Answer 3

Catch her and put her in time out every time she doesn't listen. I think they recommend 1 minute for every year they are...so for her it'd be about 1 1/2 minutes.  

Answer 4

lol

You've got a hellraiser! =D

Well, it probably seems like a game to her.

Put her in time out for two minutes. Designate a naughty chair or corner and make her settle down. And put her back in the chair if she doesn't listen to you.