Understanding the word no

At this age it’s a case of calmly removing the toddler from the situation and distracting them with something else. The best thing is to try to avoid as many issues as possible in the first place by putting things like the lamp and phone charger out of his reach.

Mine definitely understands the word no, but I always give it with an explanation and suggest something else e.g. no we don’t grab the lamp, it’s hot/it could fall on you and you could get hurt, why don’t we read a book/play with a toy/come help mummy. Just to say as well while she 100% understands what no means, she doesn’t listen every time! Consistency and making the space as toddler friendly as possible x

I think there’s a difference between understanding what the word means, and having the emotional self-regulation to act on it. They’re also usually not capable of remembering from one day to the next what things you’ve said no to in the past. Their brains still have a lot of developing to do 😊

Mine does. As said above, consistency is key xx

My wee girl does, am the same as Charlotte I give am explanation why she not to do it.

They understand, but until about age 3 they have no impulse control, so if they want to do something, they will without thinking

My daughter definitely understands, like if I ask for a bite of her snack and she doesn’t want to share, she definitely knows what no means then! But like you, if I say “no, don’t play with that” suddenly what is no? 🙃 Like other commenters, I try to redirect instead of actually saying no, although I still get plenty of meltdowns, which I listen to, empathise with and then try to redirect again. It feels kind of counterintuitive but usually I need to do something totally different (like if she’s trying to eat a rock, I can’t offer her a snack, it’s too close to what she actually wants to do. Instead, I’d say let’s go look at that bird over there, take her interest in a completely different direction.) I usually only say no if she’s in immediate danger so she actually does respect no when I say it (most of the time 🫠)

My boy understands the word no. We were at a soft play the other day and he wanted to run up the ramp to the exit and I told him a firm no and he understood. He kept walking back near the ramp and just stood looking at it and then walked away from it. He knows he can't go up the ramp because I told him no

@Megan that’s great… I think the point is that young toddlers can’t do this consistently, if they can do it at all. As soon as they’re hungry, or tired, or over-excited, they can’t regulate themselves in the way your little one did. Also, if you took him back to that soft play tomorrow he wouldn’t remember that he’s not allowed to run up that ramp. People then tend to perceive this as “naughty” behaviour when in reality they’re just expecting too much of a very small human ❤️

@Sophie yes that's true. I work with toddlers so I know what it's like. My mum took him back to the same softplay today and he remembered. He stood next to it, looked at it and walked away from it

My little one listens when I say no and as said before I will follow on with an explanation! X