When do they get it? Payton will go to do something he's not supposed to and I usually go get him and redirect which works but I've decided to try telling him no. When I do he hesitates, looks at me, smiles and proceeds with what he is doing. I'm pretty sure he doesn't get it yet and that's fine, we will continue redirecting for now but when do they grasp that?

Thanks gals, :)

I don't think it 'really' clicked until about 14 months for either of mine...we would tell him before, but until then he was just happily looking at us like we were saying 'hi' instead of 'no'! LOL....a little after a year it finally 'meant' more when we used it.

Thats exactly how Payton acts, Breezy, he gets happy and excited LOL. I'm not too worried, just thought I would try it to see how he reacted with it. I'm sure he will learn soon enough then I'll be posting with complaints about him saying no all the time [whatwacko]

Thanks!

Haha, ye-ep...nothing more infuriating than your toddler standing there shouting 'NO' at you! LOL (ranks right up there on the 'push mommy over the edge' list anyway! Ha!)

I don't remember at the moment when mine really began 'getting' it. But they were told "no" from the time they were wee ones. Old enough to reach at something or be mobile..."no" A stern, firm, "no" Not yelling, not changing the tone of your voice to be really nasty so that they react solely to that. Just a good, firm, "no". And as necessary, a tap to the hand to accompany...such as when reaching for an off limits object. It doesn't take long, that much I know. Be firm, be consistent...he'll get it pretty soon.

We started by avoiding using the word no to ds. I'm really glad we did because it delayed him using the word NO too! We said, "That is not for Trevor." or "That is mama's" (rather than "That is mine"). It will be harder this time around because DS is already telling dd "no" and "that's mine"! [flagsurrender]

We are starting some informal evaluations on my little one, and according to the Rossetti Infant Toddler Language Scale, between 3-6 months old little ones should respond to "no" half of the time and between 6-9 months old they should respond to "no" most of the time.

We are starting some informal evaluations on my little one, and according to the Rossetti Infant Toddler Language Scale, between 3-6 months old little ones should respond to "no" half of the time and between 6-9 months old they should respond to "no" most of the time.

Interesting info here, Kimberlee! Thanks for sharing! :mrgreen:

Even before reading this, I was going to say my kids started to respond to 'no' at three months old. They're smarter than we give them credit for. As for the little ones saying 'no' to us (I don't mean innocent word practicing/chanting not directed at anyone), well, let's just say it only happened a few times with each before they 'learned'. ;-) To quote my sweet, funny hubby when he sees or hears a disrespectful little one, "I can fix that." :lol:

[lovesign]

Joy [welcomewave]

When do they get it? Payton will go to do something he's not supposed to and I usually go get him and redirect which works but I've decided to try telling him no. When I do he hesitates, looks at me, smiles and proceeds with what he is doing. I'm pretty sure he doesn't get it yet and that's fine, we will continue redirecting for now but when do they grasp that?

Thanks gals, :)
Personally, after having kids, I realized that the word "No" is overused quite a bit with toddlers. Now before you misunderstand me, keep reading, LOL.

Think about what the word "No" means. It's a negative response. When you're asked a question, you would respond either "yes", "maybe", or "no". You might also use the word "No!" as an exclamation. That's the 2 most common usages of the word in our language though. You would not give another adult a stern "No!" or "No, No" or "That's a No No" when they were about to do something you didn't like....because that wouldn't be communicating what you really wanted to say.

It's easier for a child to figure out what words mean when we use them in a way that describes what they mean. So for instance, your child is trying to touch the fireplace screen. Instead of saying "No!" or that's a "No No", it helps the child figure out language better for you to say "Stop! Don't touch the fireplace. It's hot and it could burn you." Then you could help your child figure out what stop means by helping them to physically stop and not touch the fireplace. What you really want in this situation, is for the child to "stop" and "not touch", so you need to tell them that. It's harder for them to figure out just what we're trying to say by yelling "No!" as an exclamation all the time....especially when we don't want them to be yelling "No!" at us for every little thing once they do figure out what we mean by saying it, LOL.

With using phrases like stop, you can also teach the meaning by playing lots of cool games, like Red Light/Green Light using the words "stop" and "go" instead. Even riding in the car and talking about stop signs and stop lights will help reinforce that lesson. Teaching "Don't touch" is also easier than teaching "no", because it only has one meaning, which you can teach by simply physically stopping your child from touching an item....not 3 or more meanings that may or may not be in force all the time like the word "No".

I can't remember where I first read about this concept. It was something about child development, and I remember thinking it was probably hokey because it talked about not telling your children "No", which I thought was really wrong, LOL. Come to find out that it was about teaching your children what you were really saying so they'd understand the language better, LOL.

It really has been successful in our family though, even though it's hard not to slip into saying "No" alot. We certainly don't have little ones who're repeating "No" after every little thing, and it was much quicker and easier to teach them to "stop" and "don't touch".

We just gave our kiddies a firm " no touch " and usually accompanied with a quick tap on the hand the first couple of times. ( This learned after the laughing too. :-D Oh, they are cute.) They are surpisingly quick to understand. We did this from about eight months on. When they are able to crawl around well and get into things. My MIL's house is like a national treasure. :-D I wanted them to know they could not touch everything. This way I could at least sit down and just say No touch when I needed too, this would stop them and I would usually move them if it was something really scary. We also have a wood stove so we taught them " hot no touch " and they picked up on that really quick too. Can not ever remember having a problem with them yelling No.

Good luck, you are doing an awesome job! I know the choices seem kind of overwhelming at the beginning, but it gets easier.

When do they get it? Payton will go to do something he's not supposed to and I usually go get him and redirect which works but I've decided to try telling him no. When I do he hesitates, looks at me, smiles and proceeds with what he is doing. I'm pretty sure he doesn't get it yet and that's fine, we will continue redirecting for now but when do they grasp that?

Thanks gals, :)

I think being at home is a good time for teaching as opposed to redirecting. I would save redirecting/distraction for more public times i.e. in the grocery store, at a relative's house, etc.

Like some of the other moms, we also added sort of a direction to "no" or "stop". For example, if we wanted a crawling baby to learn not to touch the electrical outlet, we would use the term "No touch." As far as when they "get it", I agree with Joy that it's younger than you think. After some practice and training, you watch for response. The first time he goes for the outlet, you say "no touch" and he quickly pulls his hand back; that means he "gets it".

I agree with Tara that it's best to teach babies to respond to "no" said in a normal tone of voice. Then they learn to respond to your words and not your louder tone. (When Mom reaches this decibel, then I have to obey. :-D) Of course, there are times when your "no street" teaching may have a glitch in it; your little child steps off the curb, a car is coming and you yell (loudly) "NO"!