What do you do when your young toddler doesn't listen?

[bluedaisy]

My dd is 24 months old and is very easygoing most of the time.  However, occasionally there will be situations where she deliberately ignores what we are saying - most of the time we just remove her from the situation - for example, if she touches the computer we will put something in front of it so she can't touch it anymore. 

But sometimes it is not so easy - for example, there was s time when she would always stand up in her high chair, which was dangerous.  We told her no but she would continually do it - we didn't have straps to keep her down.

What is appropriate for a young toddler when they obviously understand you are telling them "no" but the do it anyway?

[crunchy_mommy]

Mostly I just change my rules. DS loves to jump on the couch. I don't mind if he jumps on the bed, but he always comes precariously close to falling off the couch. But after a million times of telling him no, removing him, etc., I finally realized, what's the worst that will happen? He's not likely to get seriously injured falling from less than 2 feet. And he actually hasn't ever fallen off so he's probably being more cautious than I realize. He also likes to plug things in & unplug them... so I showed him how to do it carefully, so his fingers don't touch the metal prongs. Honestly most of the things he does that make me cringe & want to say "no" really aren't that horrible when I think about it. So I guess I've become very lax, as few limits as possible, but if something is being used in a truly dangerous way & he's not responding, the item is taken away or he is removed from the situation & distracted with something fun.

Something like the highchair, if that was happening during a regular meal (vs. an occasional dinner out or something), I would just end the meal if she wouldn't stay seated. Or if it's happening before she's even started eating, I would let her use a regular chair or a booster seat or sit at a toddler-sized table & see if that helped.

We also do a lot of redirecting -- "We don't use the (toy) hammer on the dog, but you can hammer the floor," or "We're not going to play with the laptop right now, but you can close the cover & help me put it away." I can't think of other examples right now because I'm dead tired but there was another thread on this issue a day or two ago, here it is http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/thread/1278555/23-mo-old-ignoring-or-doing-the-opposite
 

[Aliy]

 don't know... i really don't my son is 24 months as well and is so differnt form his older brother. He's a grreat kid but really doens't like to listen.  he tends to have a bit of attitude when he doesn't get his way... he is two though so it's in some way to be expected.

I try to redirect but i also have a tendancy to say no... i want to cut it down but i have a hard time

[Momma2Gianna]

Redirection is what I use most.  Try to find an outlet for the "bad" behavior.  As far as the highchair thing, I would just remove her to the floor and tell her that she would be welcome to come back to the table when she wants to sit, and if she wants to stand, she can stand on the floor.  The issue I am having right now is spitting...

Toddlers are SO fun aren't they!!  :-)  Hang in there...It won't be this way forever.