How to Prepare Toddlers for New Experiences
Let’s be honest, change is hard for anyone. But when you’re experiencing the world for the first time, like babies and toddlers, different can be downright scary. Since toddlers lack the verbal skills to communicate their fears, new experience can be riddled with tears and tantrums… unless you prepare them ahead of time.
As a traveling family, our kids are constantly presented with new experiences. To make sure they are met with smiles instead of tears, we follow a few simple steps:
- Talk to them. Well ahead of the new place, event, person, or thing they’re going to experience, start talking them through what’s going to happen. Go step by step, speaking slowly, using words they understand. Track their facial expressions for any concerns that may arise. Use your initial chat as a script, and go over daily to make sure they are ready. We like to do this daily at bed time, but any time would work.
- Show them pictures and videos of the new experience. It’s easy to do this if it’s a place you’ve been. If you haven’t, YouTube and Google image search are great resources. Comment like a narrator on what’s happening in the video or picture, and let them ask questions. As you did with the talk track, show them these visuals often leading up to the new experience.
- Role play how the experience will unfold. For example, if you’re going on a flight, grab an empty suitcase or backpack. Pack it into the car, and pretend you’re headed to their airport. If they’re meeting a new person, pretend you are that person and let them interact with you. Notice when they get stuck, and listen for how they role play to catch any potential concerns they can’t verbalize.
These simple tricks have helped our toddlers become pros at facing change and new experiences. In fact, our older son just had his first flight since before the pandemic, and he faced it like a champ. He had been on over 20 flights before the pandemic, but he didn’t remember any of them! He was slightly nervous about the plane being too loud, which he was able to communicate head of time. This helped me show him videos with plane noises, so he could hear what it will be like and mentally prepare. I also brought noice canceling headphones to help with his concerns about the noise. He didn’t even need them!
What new experiences do your toddlers have coming up?
