parenting toddlers

>> i'm constantly tryingto create structure for billy even though he's only2 because i know it's important. but, man, is it hard. >> hi, honey. i've made some changes to thefamily schedule and i just want to run them by you so you canhave a real 50,000 foot view of some of the changeswe're going to be making in the way we do things here. okay? yeah.

>> he sometimes struggleswhen we move from one thing to another. and i'm trying to add somenew activities to his day. so naturally i'mthinking pie chart. >> this chart hererepresents how you and i typically spend ourdays not including nap times and potty breaks of course. and as you can see here playtime figures significantly. nearly 34 percent ofour daily activities.

are you with me? >> my job? well, i work as aproject manager team lead in a large marketing agency. why do you ask? >> now, based on theadvice of a majority of childhood educationresearchers as well as decades of collective experience ofmothers all across the us, your current age whichis 2 is the ideal time

to begin introducing simplewords and simple sounds as a preamble to reading. are you pooping? >> i know what you're thinking. i'm not being detailed enough. right? i knew it. >> thinking aboutwhat your routine or what you want your routineto look like ahead of time, some parents liketo post it and maybe

for young kids you wouldassociate a picture or a graphic to it. the simpler you make it the morelikely you can adhere to it. if it's too complicated, involves too many differentsteps, it's just setting it up for -- you know, for failure. and you don't want to do that. we want this structureand the routine -- it's supposed to promotesuccess in the family.

>> okay. hey, look. do you see? it's almost five o clock which means it's almostour new reading time. and then after reading time youand i can go bake some cookies. what do you say? >> thank you. >> you're welcome. >> it's all about setting upexpectations for your children.

so letting them know what'scoming next is really important. so yeah. you can havethe 5 minute warning. "okay. in 5 minutes we're goingto go up and take a bath." that's really important. >> when we're done herewe're going to go upstairs and get washed up for dinner. so 5 more minutes. okay? >> okay.

>> one thing that kidsunderstand easily is step by step instructions. so one way to communicatearound a structure or routine is by saying, "first we'll dothis, and then we'll do this." >> okay, now, buddy,it's time for bed. >> it's really great. i feel like billy and i are on the same pagemuch more often now. he used to handletransitions really badly,

but now he knows what's coming. >> time for bed. night night. >> simplicity is the key. simple and clear. in fact, i started incorporatingsome of these simple and clear strategiesin to my life at work. it's going well. >> okay. so you can seei've created some new visual

materials to lead usthrough today's meeting. we'll be focusing on ourclient's new structure and how well it meshes withsome of the projections that we made based onthe marketing strategies that we developed at ourlast corporate retreat. but before we get startedwhy don't we take a short snack break?

then we'll begin in,we'll say, 5 minutes? 5 minutes, okay?

1, 2, 3, 4, 5. anybody need to use the potty?