Urgent Need: As the back-to-school season begins, families are facing mounting pressure—tough choices, cultural confusion, and strained relationships.
Will you make a gift before August 31 to help provide Christ-centered support in this critical season?
Teaching your toddler to obey is one of the most important building blocks for their continued development. Learn how to establish a healthy foundation of obedience in your home.
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
Toddler obedience might be the most common parenting topic for this stage of life. At some point, every toddler will discover disobedience. And the results might not be pretty.
As a parent, you’re likely wondering how you can get your toddler to just, well, behave again. Disciplining a two or three-year old might feel cruel. But through wise and loving care, you can build a healthy foundation of obedience in your home.
Here a few things to think about and try:
There’s a good chance his or her disobedience is simply a product of being a toddler. Learning to obey will be a key lesson for the upcoming years of your child’s development. For more advice on this topic, check out our parenting resources here.
Vice President, Parenting and Youth
Dr. Huerta oversees Focus’ initiatives that equip mothers and fathers with biblical and research based principles and guidance for raising healthy, resilient children rooted in a thriving faith in Christ.
Dr. Huerta is a bilingual psychologist, licensed clinical social worker, author of 7 Traits of Effective Parenting, and co-author of Focus on the Family’s Age and Stage resource, and various other resources. He is also the co-host and expert on the Focus on Parenting and the Practice Makes Parent podcasts.
For many years, he has provided families with practical, biblically-based, and research-based parenting advice on key parenting topics. He has been interviewed by various media outlets including Fox News, Fatherly, Christianity Today, WORLD Magazine, The Christian Post and CBN, and regularly speaks on Christian radio stations and podcasts across the United States. He’s also written for various publications and is a regular speaker at retreats, conventions, family camps, online events worldwide, and on various social media channels.
Dr. Huerta has maintained a private practice serving families in Colorado Springs since 2003 and has also served families as an employee of Focus on the Family since 2004.
He and his wife, Heather, love the outdoors, have been married since 1997, and love spending time with their two adult children.
Read More About:
I can’t remember a day that there wasn’t some kind of “learning lesson” going on in our home. But most of those lessons didn’t involve sitting down and doing homework. Instead, my mom employed active ways to help us learn how to learn.
The growth of humility in your child’s life will lead to positive development in many other areas of their character and relationships.
Helping our students to discover their identity in appropriate ways will ease the pressure and anxiety they feel around defining themselves.
We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions about parenting here.
Submit Your Parenting Question Here
First Name
