Your little one is growing fast. He is curious and hence, things can get slightly tricky at times. He doesn’t know the difference between good-bad or acceptable-unacceptable, but you do. He relies on you for guidance. By now he must have become an expert face reader and knows it when you approve of anything, yet sometimes, he can show some bratty traits.
What you need to do
You could do many things to help your baby so that the distinction starts early. For example, you could point to a mug of tea that is warm and say ‘hot.’ Touch your baby’s hand to the mug and quickly remove it by saying ‘hot’ and ‘no.'
Your baby is an instinctive grabber and will make a grab for anything that he wants. This is what he has learnt and you have accepted it when he grabbed at toys, sippers, shoes, etc. So it may seem puzzling to your baby that you don’t want him to grab at some other things, for example, grabbing at people’s hair or a bed sheet.
You can hold your baby’s grabbing arm and pull it back and say ‘no’ when this is not acceptable. Say ‘ouch’ or something to show that this grabbing action can hurt. Your baby may not understand this immediately but will eventually learn and thus, the bratty tendencies will soon fade.
