The Naughty Step

How do you convince a 1 year old that what they're doing is wrong, dangerous and not allowed? She climbs onto the ottoman stands up and just smiles at us....

We tell her no, we put her down, she climbs right back up and smiles again. She even wants to clap for herself, like this is a game or some great accomplishment.

Now we're trying a sort of "time out," "Super Nanny" style. When Ella climbs up, we tell her no. When she does it again, mommy or daddy takes her to the bottom step on the stairs. That's the "naughty step." She has to sit there for 1 minute. We tell her she cannot climb on the ottoman because it is dangerous and she could fall and get hurt. After 1 minute we divert her to playing with something else.

Does it work? Of course not!!! Works on the show, when the Super Nanny does it. Real life is not so easy. She comes right back to her climbing and keeps on smiling.

It's hard not to laugh at her when you have no idea how to convince her you're serious! We may suck at the discipline part of parenting so far.