I have a child who understands the word "no" but largely ignores it. At 10 months old, I found her on top of the dining table. Underneath that is a concrete floor. Not a good combo.

She is now almost two and I can count on one hand the number of times, she has listened to "no" and I honestly don't have the energy to say no all day and to implement consequences. I just don't. I don't think it would be good for her to listen to no all day and it would make for a very frustrating day for me.

So the way I deal with it is to pick my battles. I only dole out consequences if she's doing something really dangerous. I figure that until she understands the "why" about why she can't do something, it's actually pointless (with her because she's very, very headstrong).

In the last couple of weeks though, I've happily noticed a change and she is much, much better at doing what I ask her to do. I just think she's getting better at understanding my explanations as her cognition has improved.