What My Toddler is Teaching Me Lately

Like It's His Job...

My almost 18-month-old son, Ben, is obsessed with pushing things around. Anything that is on wheels that he can get behind, he’s all over it.

He has two techniques that he uses. The first one involves getting going as fast as he can for as long as he can until he crashes into something and then crumpling to the floor while screaming.

The second one, which he developed recently, is all about creating a deliberate path, course-correcting as he goes along, and going very slowly. It’s kind of his own version of the tortoise and the hare, if the hare had crashed into things and then totally freaked out.

His first technique is more fun (he often laughs as he speeds along) and sometimes it makes sense to go at a breakneck pace until you hit a wall, especially if you can avoid the post-crash drama. Other times, especially when you are in a tight space, it makes sense to use his second method, inching along and shifting slightly every so often. The trick is to know when is appropriate to use each technique.

1 comment April 15th, 2009