Acquired behaviour

Most toddlers learn their behaviour from the observations they make or the instructions they receive. 

One useful way of understanding the pattern of such learning, is by observing the play behaviour of toddlers. Play is their natural instinct by then, and most of their play is already conditioned.

Parents or care givers, who take time to play with their toddler children, from the first time they show engaged interest in the toys contribute three valuable insights to their children.

The adults can demonstrate how a toy can be used in different ways. The toy can be used for solo play, make-belief play or for parallel play with a small group of children. 

The toy generates fun and excitement, which is one requirement for a toddler to stay tuned to playing with toys. The peek-a boo, hide and seek, turn taking steps in play, etc are unknown to children until they learn from adults or older siblings. 

The way an adult offers time to play with a toy creates an impression of the value of the toy and how the toys are to be taken care of. There is a value we add to the toy and its useful learning contribution, when as adults,  we use the time to explore it with the child. Most toddlers are imitational by habit and imitate the practices or behaviours of those who spend the most time with them. It may be sometimes demanding for the adults to enter into this form of transactional play with toddlers for lack of time or interest. But there is no substitute to this, as children can be conditioned to what we want them to be socially and behaviourally only through human interactive play behaviour.

When a toddler is unruly in a mall or public place, he or she gets punished or threatened. This is unfortunate because we cannot expect a toddler to behave appropriately unless he or she has been instructed several times to behave in a particular way. Toddlers show more respectful response to gentle human voices and caring behaviour which comforts them. 

Instead if a toddler has more engagement with the TV or computer or video games, we deprive them of the conditioning through human interaction.

Toddlers are most responsive when we give them attention and formulate their actions and reactions. 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)