My toddler is 15 months old. She has been trying to assert her independence in various ways, such as not wanting to eat a particular food, or not wanting to do a particular activity. She is ready to interact, to express her emotions, and to make her opinion known.

Allowing her to make choices is a great way to accomplish all of the above. The key is to allow her to pick between two viable options so that she feels in control and learns to share her opinion. She chooses her snack in the evening (from options such as fruit, cheese, crackers – no unhealthy items in the options, at least until she has eaten her healthy snacks first), which book to read (from a stack of baby-friendly board books) and which toy to play with. I haven’t tried letting her pick her own clothes yet, but she has shown signs of being ready for that, too.

She learnt to love making choices! When shown her options for snacks, she would look eagerly back and forth, eyes gleaming in anticipation. She would then grin widely and reach out pointing at her choice. The “pointing” is very important in toddlers, it’s often one of the early forms of communication.

Recently, she took this one step further. She looked around, found her box of crackers, brought it over to me, and pointed, indicating that she wanted them! Needless to say, we were thrilled by this new step in communication. Can’t wait to see what’s next!