We were discussing discipline the other day, and at first I didn't think much of it - with a 15-month-old, what do we do to discipline? Should we? So it got me thinking, and I realized that we do use age-appropriate discipline strategies:
General strategies -
1) Divert her attention. If she is starting to go for something she shouldn't be, we try to grab her attention with a toy or book she enjoys.
2) "MIni time-out." If she continues to go for what she shouldn't, or if we don't catch her early enough, we firmly say and sign "no" and sit her down wherever she is for a few seconds.
3) Encourage good behavior. We make sure to spend time with her when she is playing happily with her toys. We also are working on saying "please" whenever she wants something now. If she asks for something, she needs to either sign please or say "bitte" (she is learning German too, since I speak German, and bitte is easier to say than please) - obviously it takes prompting on our part, but since we started it with some of her favorite things (cheese and nursing) she consistently says "bitte" after only a few days when she wants food or nursing.
Specific situations -
1) If she bites me while nursing, I pinch her nose lightly, just enough to keep her from breathing. She doesn't like it, and she has to stop nursing to breathe. If she bites me again, I sign "no" and say "no biting" and stop nursing her temporarily (until she asks for it again).
2) We are teaching her to close the baby gate at the top of the stairs, too. We don't leave it open all the time, but if one of us goes down and the other is in the kitchen, then we have her close the gate. Now, if one of us goes down and doesn't close the gate, she says "no" to us and runs over to push it closed.
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