You know your day will be filled with mischief when your wake up to your toddler getting into trouble. Today was one of those days. I was woken up to my husband yelling loudly for me to get up and help him. Apparently, he woke up and walked out of the bedroom to find our daughter in the living room holding something unexpected. One of our cats killed a squirrel and brought into the house through the cat door and left it in the living room. Our daughter woke up, climbed out of her crib, and went to play in the living room. Thinking it was a toy, our 19 month old daughter picked it up and cuddled it like a stuffed animal. My husband found her holding the dead squirrel and was freaked out. He got the squirrel away from her and tossed it in the woods and I calmly got her in the bath.

Needless to say, my husband closed up the cat door permanently and little rabbit got a good scrubbing in the bath to get the germs off.

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Toddlers: When You Need A Calm And Collected Attitude

Little Rabbit Learning To climb Over The Baby Gate

Being the parent to a toddler isn't easy. They don't understand the world around them and are super curious. Everything they see is a toy and potentially fun to mess with. Some days you'll wake up and they'll be little angels. Other days they'll draw on the walls with crayons. That cute little baby you brought home from the hospital can walk and run and climb and can be a little bundle of trouble.

That is why it is important to train yourself to be calm and collected. Toddlers are wild and unpredictable. They destroy your house and put themselves in dangerous situations. Because they are so young, they don't know any better. Dealing with youngsters who are mischievous can be a challenge and can have mom and dad on edge. To have a deal dealing with mischievous acts, one after another, can make a parent feel stressed, angry, and frustrated.

Practicing Mindfulness Helps You Gain Perspective and Calmness

This morning my daughter picked up a dead squirrel. During her bath she cried because she's going through a phase where she hates baths. Later she spent a few hours climbing furniture. Lately she's obsessed with ice and harassed me every time she saw a cup to give her ice. She knocked over four drinks and dinner time ended up being a challenge to keep the kid away from cups where she tried to steal ice. She got into daddy's potted tomato plants and threw dirt all over the floor.

Even though my daughter was a wild one full of trouble today, I never lost my cool. Dealing with her getting into trouble all day was tiring but I constantly practiced mindfulness. Mindfulness is reflecting and trying to be aware of what's going on with yourself and others. I think about what my daughter is thinking and why she is behaving the way she does.

My little 19 month old isn't behaving badly because she is trying to be mean or bad. She doesn't know that how she is acting is considered bad at all. To her everything is a game. Ice feels good in her mouth which has new teeth coming in so she loves ice. Dirt is fun and squishy and is neat to throw on the floor. That dead squirrel looked just like her stuffed animals and she innocently picked it up thinking it was a toy.

By being mindful and trying to understand my daughter's young thoughts about the world, I feel very calm dealing with her. I never lose my cool with her. If I see her getting into trouble, I remove her from the situation and then deal with the mess. With very young babies, it can be hard teaching them right from wrong. They don't understand words or sentences. Because of this, it's extremely easy for them to do something they shouldn't be doing.

Blowing bubbles with Little Rabbit

Redirect and Enjoy Their Curiosity

When my daughter gets to a point where she is getting in trouble every few minutes, I try to redirect her to an activity that will capture her attention and keep her doing parent approved play. I take her to her room and play with her with some of her toys. I take her on a walk out in the yard. I show her a new object she's never held before. The other day she got introduced to bubbles which captured her attention and she found them fascinating. Redirecting her attention to positive play helps on those tough days where she seems to get into too much trouble.

Toddler's are curious and want to learn about the world around them through exploration. They don't know good or bad. They just know fun and not fun. As a parent you have to understand how little one's think and be calm with they make mistakes. As they grow older they will learn right from wrong. As very young toddlers and babies who can't understand such concepts you have to be patient and cool headed.

Toddlerhood is a fleeting moment and far too soon that cute little bundle will be big. Take time to enjoy your little one and remember that someday you'll laugh at all the stories of things he/she did when they were a baby. I'll be printing off this steemit article to keep in a book of stories of things I want to remember about my daughter. Someday when she's all grown up she'll enjoy hearing about the crazy things she did as a baby.