Toddlers can be taught not to fall straight backward like a board by repeatedly bending them from a standing into a sitting position. Sometime during the second year all children become clinging and afraid of strangers, relatives, and particularly doctors. A parent should always be nearby. People who stare a toddler in the eye at this stage or ask direct questions are particularly fearsome. This is an entirely normal stage, but relatives should be warned about it before a visit.
Many children also develop a fear of the bathtub sometime during their second year.
This is serious only if the parents react as if it were serious. To help overcome this fear, a parent should temporarily resume using the bathing table or sink used previously, or take a bath with the child. This is the hallmark of the second year. Between the ages of 1 and 2, toddlers will often repeatedly do something they know will provoke a parent's anger, and seem to be almost begging for punishment. It is the essence of the child's growing independence, the starting point of the journey that ends years later with separation from the parents.