Parents Are Giving Advice on How to Survive Toddler Years And It’s Required Reading

Raising kids is hard, and some phases are way more challenging than others. Like the tough toddler years, where kids are doing their best to separate themselves from their parents. It’s often full of tantrums (kids don’t have great communication skills at this point) and can make parents want to pull all their hair out. Thankfully, a Redditor’s curiosity led to a viral thread of people sharing all the advice on how to survive the toddler years. And it should be required reading.

Reddit user u/Oshden took to AskReddit with a question that led to incredible advice. They posed the question, “if you could go back in time to when your kiddo was a toddler, what is the most important piece of advice you would give yourself or wish someone had given to you?” And what followed was a viral thread of hundreds of comments that’s super useful.

“To have patience,” u/AeBS1978 answered. “They are little humans and don’t know how to control their emotions yet.”

u/ParaPixie said, “Relax, she will poop eventually” which is a worry many parents of toddlers have but no one ever talks about.

“Have them try all foods,” u/mirraman suggested. “Even if you don’t like them. It will help them to develop healthy habits as they grow.”

u/Tiny_Maintenance8031 shared that giving the terrible twos some options may help reduce the toddler’s reactions. “That toddlers sometimes need to feel in control so give them fake choices that really aren’t any choice but feel like one,” they said. They use the example of instead of telling their kid it’s time to take a bath, they offer the choice of which color bubble bath they wanted.

“Instead of saying ‘I’m proud of you’ all the time, help them feel their own sense of accomplishment. ‘Wow you worked really hard on that. You must feel so proud about how hard you worked’ etc,” u/thewhittynamepain suggested. “Then they can start feeling pride from within instead of seeking it from others.”

u/Gams_S296, a mom of three, said “I would honestly say, I would have listened more and not interjected as much. Validated my kids feelings more and honestly, ensure they know how much I appreciate them as an individual. I also believe I’d tell myself to have more patience.”

Several parents had the same advice, that having more patience would make things a lot easier. And they’re not wrong. Some others people shared were setting a good example, starting getting the toddlers used to self-care earlier on, and that consistency is key.

The Reddit thread is several hundreds of comments deep, all amazing advice, that honestly would work for parents who are raising little toddlers right now. But of course, hindsight is 20/20.