Hello everyone.

My partner and I are the proud parents of a two year old boy, Ezekiel. He just turned two in February. Apparently we're lucky, after reading some posts. He's pretty mild mannered. No tantrums, for the most part... the most "wild" of them being when he has to sit down and use his nebulizer.

Now, he's our first child and this is how we deal with him.

The kid has never been spanked. He's never been hit. Any punishment given is non-violent. If he's doing something he's not supposed to, he's told to stop. If he continues, we pull him aside and tell him it's not okay. Usually, that kills the behavior right there... but if he's feeling frisky, he has a two minute timeout. It rarely escelates to the timeout, though.

This is way different than what my mother did to me. If I was bad, I got it good. (I laugh, thinking back on it.) It's amazing, though... because the approach that my partner and I are taking is weilding way different results. I recall acting out even worse after a spanking. Most of the time, the words... "That's not okay, Ezekiel," will stop him dead in his tracks and he won't try it again for a while.

Now, does anyone elses' toddler have chores and what-not? Zeke helps take care of the animals (he feeds and waters 3 Great Danes, a tarantula, two geckos, 3 green tree frogs, 2 barking tree frogs, a box turtle, 13 rats, and an angel fish). He also helps with the laundry and the dishes. He dusts and picks up his room. He has to clean up after himself if he wants to move onto a different activity. He doesn't seem overwhelmed.

Does anyone else have a similar way of doing things or any opinions on what we do?