As I look back at Christmas and the entire season with a tree full of breakable ornaments and tons of toddler eye candy (a.k.a. 'I want to touch it' candy), I am ever more thankful for an idea shared with me by a wise mom friend called 'one finger touch.'
Her daughter MB is two years older than mine, and like Li'l Girlie, she's a very tactile kid. To help MB satisfy her curiosity in stores without breaking things, my friend would tell her daughter before entering a store whether it was 'no touch', 'one finger touch' where MB could touch things, but could only use one finger to do so, or she could touch anything (very rare).
This accomplished several things. It prevented unnecessary tantrums, near-constant 'no's', and MB having to wonder each time whether she'd be admonished to not touch something each time she tried. Plus, one finger touch helped MB learn self-control while still satisfying her curiosity in a safe, appropriate manner.
One finger touch has worked great with Li'l Girlie. We didn't have to move any of our ornaments higher on the tree...though I did put 'safer' ones that she'd be interested in at eye level, and I feel comfortable taking her into most any store without worrying about her being destructive. She did get to play with the toy soldier ornament on our tree; we lifted the one finger touch rule for that, and she had a ball with it.
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