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Teaching Babies and Toddlers to Wait

Waiting is what separates the men from the boys, as they say. It separates the babies from the toddlers and the children from the adults. Our capacity to wait for what we want increases as we get older. A 2 year old, the quintessential toddler, doesn't even know what wait means. If you tell him to wait for something, he'll give you that prize-winning smile, nod his head, and ask for it again in two minutes. His brother, 4 years old, may have a little bit more of the concept: such as 'yesterday's and 'tomorrow'. "Lots of tomorrows" means a long time away, and so on.

When you finally have your third one, or third baby, you may think you've got it all down but each one is different. The third time you may still be a little nervous, because your wife may have had a miscarriage or mention pains or cramps. The doctor may say it's all normal and everything is fine but with babies and toddlers you never can tell. I look at my oldest and I remember when he was a baby. He came out screaming, about a month early. He didn't like that we brought him out from his mommy early. Not his brother, though. We had to induce labor for him to come out. All babies and toddlers are different.

It's a funny thing, this having babies and toddlers. A child is generally considered a "baby" from the moment he is born until he or she begins to walk, usually between 8 months to a year old or so. After that, they are considered "toddlers," which comes from the root word meaning, "to destroy." This is because all toddlers develop a sense of where the most expensive or most fragile items are located in your house, and immediately zero in on it to destroy it, usually by throwing it against the wall repeatedly. Or in the case of electronics, flushing it down the toilet. That's babies and toddlers in a nutshell. They will keep you occupied no matter how much you think you've got it all down.

Babies and toddlers, from a father's point of view, are mostly somebody else's problem. Mommy feeds them, friends and family hold them and all we do is change them. It's not exactly a glamorous life when it comes to babies and toddlers. Still, there's something about babies and toddlers, the miracle of a new life, that goes beyond the capacity for human communication. It exceeds our ability to describe the joy that comes along with being given the responsibility to raise babies and toddlers. He's jumping off the bed now, the toddler, landing on the floor with enough force to seemingly crush all his little bones. He gets up, though. He's laughing and this is the most fun he's had since he bent my eyeglasses backwards to see they were reversible. He's different from his brother, always playing, very sociable. He's 'just like me', his mom says. I wonder what the next one will be like. Babies and toddlers are always different.

As a father, the toddler stage is more fun, if also more expensive. They talk, say things like, "No," and "Go". The other day, after returning from being away for a few months, the toddler made up his own song as we walked down the street: "I Love Daddy" he said. It all comes around, I suppose. One day, they will be waiting, too. Waiting for their wives to have babies and toddlers as well.

About the Author
Caleb Anderson invites you to visit Find This Online an online resource guide that offers a variety of articles written on different subjects. Browse through plenty of useful articles, information, content and resources on the subject. Visit us Here for more articles on babies and toddlers.