A toddler’s sense of self

Your unconditional love, the intellectual and physical stimulation you provide, your focused attention and your responsiveness continue to be very important when your baby moves on to the toddler stage. But now the child becomes an even more active participant in the relationship, projecting his own needs for self expression and independence.

The two year old celebrated testing behavior, for example, is a tool for building self confidence. It is his way of saying that he now rejects infantile helplessness and wants to do some things on his own rejects infantile helplessness and wants to do some things on his own. He is looking for areas where you are willing to give little ground. Even though he cannot negotiate these issues well in words and he is not entirely sure what he is equipped to do, he stands ready to challenge all limits, old and new. Rather than battle over trivial issues just to show who is in charge, let him test himself on tasks or activities that he has a reasonable chance of mastering with a minimum of supervision