Yeah the first time I tried the two options for clothes on my then-two year old, he snatched both options out of my hands, threw them on the ground, and screamed NO CLOTHES
I present two options. If my kid doesn’t pick one of those two options, either by not responding or by requesting a third thing, I’m picking one of the two options for him. And I’m always picking what he’s least likely to want.
I had to do a variant of this with my now wife. She never wanted to pick restaurants, so I’d suggest something i was okay with but knew she hated. She got a lot more willing to give her opinions after a few years. Now we can discuss it like equals instead of me making the decision all the time.
A friend of mine does that for group lunches. If everyone is humming and hawing about where to go, he’ll suggest McDonald’s. This reduces the threshold of making suggestions significantly for the others, because they no longer need to find a great place. They only need to come up with somewhere better than McDonald’s.
I’m not a total asshole: After he’s had his “oh shit” moment I give him one more chance to choose. He’s usually a lot better at picking one of the two options on his second try.
The problem with parenting advice is every kid is different. This becomes clear after raised a gaggle of them. Anyone with one child that is giving advice is clueless.
My suggestion is not to give that type of child options. Tell them what’s happening. Then do it. May that not work any better and ignores why you may have started giving them choices.
You didn’t specify an age but typically choices are best for later development. Toddlers are terrorists and one should never negotiate with a terrorist.
To respond to your firat paragraph: This episode of Bluey helped me understand as a first time parent. Though this is less about personality and more about development. The mom with 9 or whatever kids really puts things into perspective.
It’s funny because my own kid is literally Bluey. Super quick to do everything else, refuses to walk.
Your second and third paragraph: thank you for the advice, I’m anticipating that mine will become a terrorist. Already has learned to cry when told no, despite the fact that we’ve never caved in to it.
I mean, the dick punch was really unnecessary but I am glad that other families experience… Weirdness, I guess. And exclusion of a parent.
I can’t count how often I read and heard the advice to “just present your kid with two options to choose from”.
My kid, even before she became verbal, always wanted option C when presented with two options.
“Do you want this hat or this cap?” “Neither”
“Do you want this blue pants or these red sweatpants?” “I want… a green… dress” we don’t even have a green dress.
“Shall we go to the zoo today or do you want to go to the playground with Anna?” “I want to go on the trampoline” .
Yeah the first time I tried the two options for clothes on my then-two year old, he snatched both options out of my hands, threw them on the ground, and screamed NO CLOTHES
I present two options. If my kid doesn’t pick one of those two options, either by not responding or by requesting a third thing, I’m picking one of the two options for him. And I’m always picking what he’s least likely to want.
I had to do a variant of this with my now wife. She never wanted to pick restaurants, so I’d suggest something i was okay with but knew she hated. She got a lot more willing to give her opinions after a few years. Now we can discuss it like equals instead of me making the decision all the time.
A friend of mine does that for group lunches. If everyone is humming and hawing about where to go, he’ll suggest McDonald’s. This reduces the threshold of making suggestions significantly for the others, because they no longer need to find a great place. They only need to come up with somewhere better than McDonald’s.
So parents can be assholes too.
I’m not a total asshole: After he’s had his “oh shit” moment I give him one more chance to choose. He’s usually a lot better at picking one of the two options on his second try.
Bonus points for finally settling for one of the options, only to throw a tantrum afterwards, that the other option was the preferred one.
The problem with parenting advice is every kid is different. This becomes clear after raised a gaggle of them. Anyone with one child that is giving advice is clueless.
My suggestion is not to give that type of child options. Tell them what’s happening. Then do it. May that not work any better and ignores why you may have started giving them choices.
You didn’t specify an age but typically choices are best for later development. Toddlers are terrorists and one should never negotiate with a terrorist.
To respond to your firat paragraph: This episode of Bluey helped me understand as a first time parent. Though this is less about personality and more about development. The mom with 9 or whatever kids really puts things into perspective.
It’s funny because my own kid is literally Bluey. Super quick to do everything else, refuses to walk.
Your second and third paragraph: thank you for the advice, I’m anticipating that mine will become a terrorist. Already has learned to cry when told no, despite the fact that we’ve never caved in to it.