The toddler room, the one that many steer clear of. It takes a special kind of teacher to keep up with the hectic nature of a 1 1⁄2-year-old who’s running full speed at a wall without looking. You may ask yourself, “why do they act like that?” or “why won’t they just sit still?”, or even “why are they screaming at me to go outside, when we’re already outside?”. Well, I’m here to hopefully answer those questions.
Children’s physical development is slower in the toddler years, but their brains are growing RAPIDLY. This is the time when autonomy and independence are at the forefront, where they want to do everything by themselves. It’s totally understandable, when you’re just trying to get out the door, to do everything for that slow-moving toddler just so you aren’t late for drop-off. But, when you do have the time, let them get their jacket on, let them put the bag of chips in the cart, let them lead the way through the park. This is teaching them how to independently work their way through the world, and teaching them how to navigate some tricky situations.
Executive functioning is that front part of the brain that tells us not to throw a fit when we drop a pen on the ground, what to do when we miss our exit on the highway, and remember our grocery list off the top of our head. This area of the brain doesn’t fully develop for a long time, but the initial stages of development begin early! When a toddler stands on the tallest piece of furniture in the house and jumps off, it’s their own crazy way of trying to figure out what’s safe and what’s not. Or, when they go back to doing the same thing you’ve told them not to do a thousand times, it’s their prefrontal cortex attempting to work through previous instructions.
They aren’t trying to be difficult (most of the time), their curious brains are in a permanent cause and effect, troubleshooting, experiment mode. Every once in a while, let them lead and see where they take you. You might be surprised.
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