What It Really Means When A Toddler Says, I Wanna Do It MYSELF!

Well, my friends, it's official... Ollie has reached the,"I wanna do it MYSELF!" stage. He is insisting on doing EVERYTHING! For those of you who have not experienced this toddler phenomenon yet, let me just enlighten you to pretty much the outcome every time...

Nine times out of ten, one of us has a complete meltdown.
At first, being the clueless first-time mother that I am, I was stoked. It's about time the kid did some stuff for himself. Please, my darling son, feed, clothe and bathe yourself.

I should have known it was too good to be true...

I always talk about two things when it comes to parenting, how incredibly hard it can be, and how it takes patience. LOTS of patience. This stage is a perfect example of that. I quickly learned, even though it's hard as hell to sit back and watch him take four hours to do something that should take four minutes, it's important that I have patience with him so he can learn. Even if that means I have to sit idly by and watch the shit show slowly unfold. And when I say slow, I mean slooooooow.




I do love that he wants to do more for himself, and become a "big boy," but OMG it takes him forever and most times, I have to correct what he has done. It never fails he puts his shoes on the wrong feet, even though the whole time he is doing it, I am try to explain the difference between 'left and right feet'and to line up the big toes... but it's not until he takes the first steps and realizes that something is wrong, does he stop and try again. How I have hair left on my head I don't know.

I suppose there is no good fix for this stage, other than to accept it, and yes, encourage it. HOWEVER, I have found self-medicating nightly with a fabulous wine or Manhattan, is very helpful.

What about you? How are you dealing with this stage?




April is an award-winning writer and blogger. Her work has been published in over ten countries and four languages. From books to newspapers, to print/online magazines and everything in between, you can find her work. For more on April, Visit AprilMcCormick.com