Toddler Care & Development: Worst Toddler Myths Parents Should Stop Believing

The toddler phase is a crucial stage, but it is one riddled with the worst myths on toddler care and development. You've probably heard some of these and might assume that the information is true. Understandably, since there is not one completely accurate handbook for handling toddlers, it's easy to buy into the myths.

However, in many cases, these myths offer no logic nor common sense, and could potentially affect the way a parent is raising her child. It's time for parents to stop believing and perpetuating these myths and below are a few of the worst examples:

Toddlers Who Throw Tantrums Are Naughty Kids

The very characteristic common among all toddlers is throwing a tantrum. Toddlers act out not because they are naughty, but because they are still learning to express themselves. Biologically, their brains are also still developing and the nerve cells that control the emotions found at the frontal lobe have yet to mature, per Yahoo.

Toddler tantrums progress or regress depending on the techniques the parents use to engage their children. In some cases, stopping the tantrum as soon as it happens won't always work. Toddlers need to be taught to understand their emotions so that they can manage this as they grow older and the tantrums will stop.

When #toddler needs to #calm down, I give him some lotion and tell him to rub his arms and legs until it disappears. Works every time.

— Sarah (@realsimplemama) May 24, 2016

Toddlers Should Share; If They Don't, They Would Grow Up Selfish

Toddlers aren't intentionally being selfish if they don't want to share.  Again, this goes back to maturity in understanding the rules of life. Parents naturally want to curb this behavior since no mother or father would want to have a selfish child, but moms and dads have to understand that toddlers are still learning what empathy is about.

Experts say you should never force the toddler to share, per Slate. Instead, parents should instill the concept of sharing in other ways. For instance, you can read children's books about sharing to your toddler, or you can let them do chores with you, such as sweeping the floor. They will eventually pick up on proper social behaviors if they see this around them often enough.

Toddlers Need To Be Around Other Kids To Learn To Socialize

If the toddler is constantly around one or two people, such as his parents or a grandparent, then he is learning valuable social skills already. The key is consistency in engagement and it doesn't matter if they are around kids their age or not.

In some cases, toddlers might actually want to play by their lonesome even if they are around other kids. This might upset some parents and read this as rude behavior. However, this is normal behavior as toddlers still do not understand the concept of cooperation or friendship. Parents might worry that their child is not learning something when not socializing with other kids. On the contrary, they are absorbing a lot just by watching what's around them, per Pop Sugar.