How To Stop Whining In A Two Year Old

Can you ever completely stop whining in a two year old?

I honestly don’t think so.

But don’t get discouraged! Your two year old is just learning, and the two year old stage is the battle ground for learning how to not whine.

Yes, whining in a two year old is exhausting.

Yes, there are things you can do to train and help; but I don’t want you to go into your child’s second year and become terribly discouraged because they do whine. It just means that they are normal two year olds. However, that doesn’t mean you have to accept it as normal forever.

It’s time to step up mama, and do your job!

In the video below, Sean talks about whining, but he also talks about chores.

His basic premise is, often times we let our two year olds whine because we don’t think they are capable of very much.

Our two year olds whine and cry over simple stuff.

They want to watch their favorite show.

We told them to put away their toys.

They don’t want to take a nap.

Putting on shoes to leave doesn’t sound like fun, so they whine.

The list goes on and on, but you can see that they whine over lots of things that are not hard for them to do, they just don’t want to.

Since two year olds are so sweet and cute, we have a hard time enforcing it, but we can’t give up! You have to first be sure that what you are asking them to do is right and good. Once you do that, you shouldn’t have to yell or threaten to get them to do it, you just calmly insist that they obey without whining.

If they don’t obey, often we take our two year old to her bed where she has to stay until she will obey without crying and whining about it. After she gets through her fit, she is actually happier to obey, say “Yes mama” and we can move on in our day.

Don’t forget about naps and snacks! Sometimes two year olds cry and whine simply because they are exhausted and they don’t know how to deal with it, or they need something to eat!

Be reasonable, be loving, but above all things, remember you are setting the stage for many years to come. Don’t be that soft parent that constantly gives in, or that parent who yells at their child constantly.