My husband and I are firm believers in beginning discipline early, but the methods we use with very young children are much different than our older children. For a one year old, corrective measures are rarely needed, and distraction is usually effective. At about 18 months of age, we begin using some corrective action when necessary, but we do not hold a one-to-two year old child accountable to every rule. At this age, we put most of our focus on obedience, not the "rules."
Allow me to illustrate with an example. When one of our children was about 18 to 22 months old, he absolutely loved to climb. He would try to climb onto kitchen counters, up the stairs, up bunk-bed ladders, onto the bathroom sink... He would climb anything he could get his feet on! Of course, we had rules against toddlers climbing things like this! However, when I caught him walking across a kitchen counter in search of a banana, I would not punish him for breaking the rule. I would say, firmly and clearly, “No! Get down right now.” If he disobeyed, he would receive one firm swat and a short, direct reprimand to "obey Mommy." Only after first-time obedience was firmly established, were we able to work on the rules of the house.
