Are you in the middle of the terrible twos, or threes or fours? The age when your toddler is learning about his own independence and challenging everything you say? Fortunately, there’s help to get you through this stage.
Dr. Tovah Klein spends her days in “toddlerdom,” studying children from ages two to five, to learn what makes them tick. Her new book, How Toddlers Thrive: What Parents Can Do Today for Children Ages 2-5 to Plan the Seeds of Lifelong Success, helps parents understand this critical development stage.
Dr. Klein is Director of the internationally renowned Barnard College Center for Toddler Development and has distilled her decades of experience with toddlers into a book that can help get parents through the day-to-day struggles. She was called “the toddler whisperer” on Good Morning America, is a child psychologist and a former advisor on Sesame Street.
Toddler behavior is often characterized by extreme mood swings. One minute, you’ve got a charming, happy child with “big girl” behavior, and the next minute you’re dealing with a meltdown, complete with screaming and kicking and crying.
What is going on? Dr. Klein looks into the brains of toddlers to find out what makes them tick. “Sometimes they feel in control of the big world they have just become a part of…, and sometimes they are completely overwhelmed by this same world, which can lead to feelings of anger, worry, fear or a need for comfort.”
She has found that the way parents interact with their toddlers plays an enormous role in how they develop later in life. Once a parent figures out how their child is thinking and feeling, they can better understand who they are and what they need, and interact in a more positive, calm manner.
You can meet Dr. Klein on Saturday, March 7, 2015, when she will be signing her book at the Oakton Community College TenHoeve Center in Des Plaines, 1600 E. Golf Rd.
Sign up on her website to get Dr. Klein’s Free Toddler Tips and see her Traveling with Toddlers tips.
Click here to read Dr. Klein’s 5 Secrets of Super-Happy Parents with Well-Behaved Kids
