Experts in early childhood development offered a few suggestions. "The best thing: Consistency, consistency, consistency," said Julie Hernandez, family advocate for the Family to Family Connection in Incline Village. "Children will respond well when the same thing is repeated over and over. Stick to it. "They call it the terrible twos for a reason. There is a lot of brain development going on and at the same time, their speech isn't up to speed. They're not forming perfect sentences and it's important to let them know that you understand their frustration. For example, you can say ‘I can see that you want to go outside without your shoes on, but it's snowing and it's cold.' Even if it frustrates you to speak calmly, you have to do it. "They are pretty much creatures of the universe and it's all about them. It's important to get a lot of support, whether it's from your family, services in the community, or toddler programs. It's important to get the support to learn about related behavior and how to deal with it. Get connected to groups."Sarah Canning, director of Little Rascals Inc. in Sparks, agreed."Be consistent," she said. "Try not to let them get away with something because you are in a good mood and then discipline them when you are feeling slightly irritable."Redirection is also very good for this age group. Redirect their attention to another task or have then do something else to get their attention away from what they were doing in the first place. Be firm and consistent."

Patty: That's a tough one, but you have to be firm no matter where you are. I remember the first time that happened to me…my daughter was almost two. She was not behaving in the store, and I said "Either behave or we are going home and you will do a time out". Of course she had no reason to believe me as it was the first time so she tested me as a smart 2 yr. old will do! So, as hard as it was for me, I abandoned the half-full shopping cart  and we went straight home to carry out the "threat".  Tell you what, it worked! From then on all I had to do was say "Do we have to go home?"...  Just stand firm on your means of discipline so they know you are consistent and mean business. It was a pain for me because I had to go back to the store later, but it was well worth the trouble.