When you have a toddler you might feel crazed and overworked.  When you have more than one toddler of the same age then those feelings escalate!  There are some days you want to just pull your hair out, or you are 100% sure that these children are plotting against you in their own language, planning out what they can do to make you lose it.

Something that’s been going on in our house lately (with my two 21 month old boys) is an inability to share.  The one wants what the other has (no matter what it is) and gets angry when they can’t have it.  My husband and I will try and tell them to “share” or “take turns” but you sometimes wonder if a child can truly understand the meaning of those words.

A few weeks ago I got very frustrated with a situation.  My children have the Elmo Toolbench.  It’s big enough so both of them can play with it at the same time.  Unfortunately they don’t like to share it with each other.  We had some pushing, some crying and some biting as the two children fought for position in front of the toy.  Finally I had enough.  I told them that the toy was going into “time out”.  I made a big deal about picking it up and putting it into their play yard.  It seemed to work.  It served as a distraction to the children and they then went on about their business playing with other toys.

I’ve been trying to do some reading on parenting on the internet, especially parenting twins.  The funny thing is that I was on one web site and that was the suggestion that was given when children are fighting over toys.

You always wonder as a mother if you are doing right by your children.  After reading this web site, I guess I might actually have some parenting skills or instincts after all!