Toddler
...retched. Adults must accept the inevitability and importance of these behaviors. Toddlers absolutely need limits and adults must be confident in setting those limits. • Separation – One of the most difficult things for toddlers is separation from the adults who are important to them. Learning that loved adults will return, and that one can cope in their absence, is a crucial task of toddlerhood (Mahler,1979). The experience of dealing with separation and increasing independence has lifelong impact. Adults can help toddlers most by accepting the evidence of fear, sadness, or anger that toddlers may show when experiencing separation. This is a time that toddlers( and their parents) need sensitivity and support. • Egocentric behavior with peers – In a group of equally egocentric toddlers, the potential for social/emotional friction is enormous; only alert and creative caregivers can protect the right of all. • Importance of social learning- “ Working out an unspoken social contract with the people with whom she interacts regularly…In it is contained what the child has learned through thousands of interchanges with the caretakers” (White,1995,p.168). • Emotional responsiveness – Emotional responses vary from one child to another, depending largely on what responses their emotions have received. A healthy social/emotional environment for toddlers avoids exacerbating negative emotional responses and guides children in these earliest stages while conveying acceptance of emotionality. • Positive Guidance for toddlers – Immature and impulsive as they are, there is no question that toddlers need limits (Burton White, 1995). The critical formation of self-esteem during toddlerhood means that caregivers must view their actions and interactions with toddlers through the filter of their effect on self-esteem. Self-esteem has several sources: feeling we can positively affect others; feeling lovable; feeling capable; and feeling listened to...