behavior Archives — What's up Fagans?

How to Dole Out Consequences Without Getting Emotional

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If you want a better way to discipline without emotion, avoiding yelling, hitting, or spanking a child, then here's a smart way to remove yourself from the drama and stress of disciplining toddlers and older children with consequence and rewards jars. As a stay at home mom of two children, ages 6 and 2 years, I'm no stranger to the laundry ...

One of the Hardest Qualities to Instill in Kids Today

This post is sponsored by SmartyPants Vitamins. All opinions are my own. I was born at the end of the 80's and was a child of the 90's and into the 00's. Thus, it may surprise you that I grew up like many generations before mine with rules like "come home when the street lights turn on" and frequently went to parks with siblings or friends sans ...

5 Sure-Fire Ways to Stop a Tantrum Before It Starts

One minute you're having a great day; things are going super-smoothly for you, your kids are behaving and it seems like it might just be a peaceful day after all. And then, out of the blue, your toddler throws a crying, screaming temper tantrum of epic proportions, and it seems like there's nothing you can do to calm him down except ride it out ...

How to Calm Down a Crying Child Without Yelling or Bribing

I cannot for the life of me remember where I picked up this parenting tip on how to calm down a crying child, but I assure you, it works to get your kids calm, and without yelling or bribing. As a parent of four kids, including twins, I have dealt with a lot of crying over the last five and a half years. Sometimes simultaneously from multiple ...

How to Stop Twins From Hitting Each Other

Does it seem like your day is spent tearing your toddler twins apart so they don't hit each other? They resort to hitting for any little thing, from having a toy taken away to their brother sitting too close. You hear about other well-behaved kids who play nicely and don't need to be refereed every minute. You begin to wonder what in the world is ...

Why You Should Let the Kids be Loud!

Today I'm guest posting for my friend Amanda of Dirt & Boogers, because she's busy moving and packing right now. Hopefully I'll actually get to meet her in real life this weekend though. She'll be guest posting for me here in a few months once I have a new baby. Check out my full post here on why you should let the kids be loud. Below is ...

The Terrible Fours and the Impossibility of Handling the Attitude

We've hit the terrible fours It's here. At long last the "terrible" age has struck my once sweet, relatively obedient children and turned them into bi-polar terrors. There's tantrums, name calling, extremes, screaming, door slamming, hitting, slapping, jumping, climbing, door locking, unbuckling, and whining coming far too frequently from my ...

How I Get Twins to Sleep During Nap Time Without Destroying Their Room

We changed Lisa over to a toddler bed about a month ago now and along with it came some other changes. They included my daughters playing for longer and more chaotic periods of time before falling asleep at nap time and bedtime, if at all at nap time. And because they fell asleep so late from their naps, they were often crabby upon ...

When Your Twins Personalities Are Different at Home from in Public

Our girls are crazy. And I should've known they'd be since, well, Josh and I are their parents.Our girls love to sing and jump and play. They scream for fun. They try to out-scream each other, and scream so hard they shake. They think it's hilarious. And they have done this for a very long time. I guess when you're raising two girls, you ...

9 Parenting Tactics for Toddlers That Really Work

We are not perfect parents. Soooo far from perfect most days. But, there are nine things I think we do alright on when it comes to parenting tactics for toddlers. The following tips and toddler discipline ideas seem to be working for us and our kids. Parenting Tactics for Toddlers 1. Free range - Free play. Josh and I figured early on that if ...