Parenting

1763 readers

2 users here now

A place to talk about parenting.

Be respectful of others' parenting decisions.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

Tot

What breaks in a toddler's brain when they mess up a task a little bit so they purposefully mess up the rest of the task? (lemm.ee)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/parenting

16 comments fedilink hide all child comments

So I’m thinking along the lines of this (volume warning)

But my two year old just did the same thing while “helping” to feed the dogs. She spilled a few pieces, looked at the mess, and then dumped out the rest of the cup. She exclaimed, “I make a mess” then picked up the pieces, put them back in the cup, and successfully poured it into the dog’s bowl. What breaks in their brain where the task doesn’t go according to plan so they make an even bigger mess?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Nothing breaks, things haven’t grown and developed yet. Like those pudgy, pudding-like non-dexterous hands, the pudding of their brains has to grow and develop too.

If you want to go all basic Piaget on it, rudimentary reasoning starts between ages 3-4y. This is why when a grown man punches a wall he is often likened to a toddler. This is also why some adults go to therapy, to grow and develop stunted coping skills.

For now, they’ll scream, cry, gesticulate wildly, and test the aerodynamic properties of their toys, until they grow into some reasoning capabilities. Developing strength and dexterity isn’t just about physical development.