When these things start, I can say for sure that the challenges to authority take these three forms and I can tell you the testing dies out earlier than the other two. Well first of all, it doesn't mean that the child is inherently a rotten child. It means that the child is normal, has received a lot of love and a lot of attention, and is now going through something that they have no control over and the parent has to cope with it. It is the teaching of the rules of the family. Along with keeping the child alive, given the child's usual tendency to climb as high as they possibly can during the same time span.
Safety is paramount of course.
Dr. Burton White is the Director of The Center for Parent Education, and author of The New First Three Years of Life and Raising A Happy Unspoiled Child. This interview was excerpted from The Parent's Journal Public Radio program, August 6, 1997. The radio interview was conducted by the program host, Bobbi Conner. All Rights Reserved. Your visit to this site and use of the information hereon is subject to the terms of our Legal Statement .