The period of development between 18 months and 36 months, is commonly dubbed the "terrible twos" for a number of reasons. At or around age two children begin exercising their independence. They want to do things for themselves and make their own decisions. They are curious about EVERYTHING and are testing their limitations as they discover and challenge the world around them.

Certainly, active two-year-olds do present challenges for parents and caregivers. Therefore, safety issues are extremely important for this age group. Child-proofing the home is essential to provide a safe environment for curious two-year-olds. Your once fairly confined child is now capable of heart-stopping feats, like climbing up on the kitchen counter and darting out doors unexpectedly. This is a good time to re-evaluate the safety of your home. Keep poisonous materials out of reach, windows and doors locked, and move anything you don't want your child playing with, lipstick included, to a safer place.

You can also save yourself a bit of stress if you maintain reasonable expectations. Issues over toilet training, eating habits, and difficult behavior require patience and flexibility.

Understandably, your toddler will often experience frustration over his or her inability to communicate effectively. When my boys were this age, they would get very frustrated when they tried to convey something to me and I just couldn't interpret what they were trying to say. This resulted in an escalating guessing game, in which each failed attempt to convey their thoughts rendered them more and more frustrated. When I was finally able to figure out what they were trying to tell me, sighing with relief, I repeated the intended word or phrase a few times and asked them to repeat it with me and rewarded them with cheering praise when they said it right. Taking every opportunity to work with your child on developing those language skills will pay off with fewer tantrums and less frustration for you both.

Essentially, turning the "terrible two's" into the "terrific two's" is more dependant upon parental creativity, attitude, self-control, flexibility and self-awareness, than on normal toddler behavior. Half the battle is understanding the developmental stages of your child. By accommodating your toddler's natural inclination to explore and play you can help pave a smoother road to a "terrific two's" experience. Provide an environment that is conducive to learning. Toddlers get bored easily. They require on-demand attention, stimulating toys and plenty of interesting activities to keep them out of mischief.

Ultimately, it is important to practice attentive patience. Expressing your anger and frustration through aggressiveness and violence will only accelerate bad behavior. Children learn what "buttons" to push to get your attention, even if the attention is reprimanding. It can become a vicious fight of power struggles. They also learn to react to conflict from how you react to conflict.

There are many alternatives to aggressive and violent discipline that parents can employ. A growing amount of research conducted on this issue continues to show that the violence and delinquency of society today may very well stem from violently aggressive discipline techniques. As parents who use alternative discipline methods, we can help develop better behaved, easier to handle, happier kids, and we may actually be contributing to the development of a less violent society by doing so.

Contrary to the "terrible two's" label, toddlerhood is a time of great discoveries, lots of laughter and character development that will lay the foundation of your child's life experience. With a little creativity, understanding and patience you are sure to turn the "terrible two's" into "terribly terrific two's!"