Which of these is the better method for communicating with toddlers?

As someone with an impending 2-year-old, I've lately been reading books about parenting toddlers/toddler development and discipline. My goal is to come to a better understanding of toddler development so I can communicate with and guide my daughter as best as I can.One of the books is Happiest Toddler on the Block by Harvey Karp, which I've enjoyed and so far makes sense to me. In it he has a method of talking to toddlers which he calls Toddler-ese, where you speak in very broken down short sentences and phrases to mirror back the toddler's emotions when they are upset. He uses the analogy that toddlers are akin to little primitive cavemen when they're upset as they're not aware of or in control of their own emotions, and that bite-sized chunks of language will grab their attention better than longer explanations. The dialogue he uses as examples ("Outside! Jack wants outside now! But nooo, right now it's nap time! Nap!") does seem rather exaggerated and comical, but the method seems to make sense (to my non-child-development professional brain). He does say that after the child has calmed you can revert back to more normal, longer phrasing and explanations.The other two books I've been reading are by Janet Lansbury - Elevating Child Care and No Bad Kids: Toddler Discipline Without Shame. Last night while reading No Bad Kids, I came across this passage about how to talk to toddlers:Talk normally. Children want to learn our language. Avoid baby talk and speak in full sentences so that you are modeling the language you want your child to adopt right from the beginning. This feels more respectful and natural to us, too. We can maximize comprehension by making our sentences shorter, slowing down our speech, and pausing after each sentence to give our infant or toddler the time he needs to absorb our words.Ignore the advice of a popular expert who tells you to imitate your toddler with Neanderthal 'ape talk' - as if talking down to your toddler like he is mentally deficient is the only way he can understand us. Imagine going to a foreign country, courageously attempting to speak the language, and then being mocked with an imitation of your awkward wording. Would you get in a foreigner's face and ape his pidgin English? Toddlers have been immersed in our language for many, many months and comprehend volumes more than they speak.So she slams the Karp method of Toddler-ese. Seasoned parents and/or child development professionals, what do you think about these opposing communication methods? Which do you think is better? Is there a middle ground? Have you used either of these methods and what has your experience been? via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2as5Gyb