![\"\"](\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-1-lJnHbsfuM\/Tjad26VfewI\/AAAAAAAABTE\/eWazsbQAOuo\/s1600\/350x255_coffeestep2_rdax_65.jpg\")
<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cNo! I want yogurt!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cOkay, we\u2019ll eat yogurt first but then brush your teeth, deal?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cDeal.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n We are each practicing the art of negotiation, but it gets extremely frustrating when that doesn\u2019t work or when the process takes too long for the time at hand. What to do when you\u2019ve nearly run out of patience, and they feed off of it and begin to meltdown? Maybe you didn\u2019t guess it, but\u2026break out into song and dance of course! One thing I find helps me the most when my patience wears down or when she is completely unresponsive to my speech is singing my way through the situation. Sure my husband may flee to another room to escape my awful off beat tune, but it\u2019s almost guaranteed to diffuse the situation, or at least put out my fuse. The worst that usually happens is that I realize I look like an idiot even to a 3 year old, and proceed to laugh hard enough at myself that I feel rejuvenated. The magic happens when she comes around and joins in with me.<\/p>\n \u201c<\/em>\u266b Oh the white moon rose over us <\/em>\u266a from the valley of <\/em>\u266b\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201c\u2026wada3 <\/em>\u266b\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201c<\/em>\u266a And we owe it to show gratefulness <\/em>\u266b where the call is\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201c\u2026to Allah!<\/em> \u266a\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n I have even found that adding melody and rhythm to mundane commands improves the chances she will accept. Everything from washing out the soap in her hair, to brushing it, to cleaning up has a homemade phrase that we sing. Music soothes the savage toddler, and apparently also enhances intelligence, coordination, emotional expression, creativity, and socialization skills. So the next time you find yourself and your child equally frustrated at a situation, try lightening up the mood with a beat you can jive to. You might grab their attention, even if it\u2019s just to laugh at you \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n Dalal Kanan<\/p>\n Dalal is currently a chemistry graduate student who above all\u00a0loves\u00a0being mom to a precious 2 yr old. <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This past year Maryam has been transitioning from a toddler to a preschooler. This past year I came to appreciate how easy toddlers are to deal with. With her opinion becoming more audible, our daily activities involve striking some deal or another. \u201cMaryam we need to brush your teeth, it\u2019s almost bedtime.\u201d \u201cNo! I want […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1573,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[200,291,299],"class_list":["post-4217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-motherhood","tag-children-and-music","tag-dalal-kanan","tag-dealing-with-frustrations-of-parenting"],"yoast_head":"\n