This morning I handed Ethan his father’s plate of scrambled eggs and told him to take the eggs into the other room to his dad.  With great care, he grasped the plate with both hands and very slowly walked into the other room.  

This has become a morning

ritual.  I make eggs for breakfast and Ethan carries his father’s plate first and then his own plate into the dining room to eat. I usually yell out a warning to Dad to be on the lookout.  This morning I heard the plate hit the floor followed by a loud wail.

“Oh, Ethan, it’s OK.  It was just an accident,” I heard his dad say.

I came around the corner and we all picked up the eggs together.  The dog was kind enough to offer his assistance as well.  Ethan was still crying.

• Sometimes it is just an accident.  Little hands and little feet are developing coordination and learning at a rapid pace.  Accordingly, little hands and little feet don’t always do what little brains tell them to do.  Dropping a plate because you are just uncoordinated is not the same as unscrewing the top of your sippy cup and pouring your milk all over the couch.  Ethan was so concentrated on what his feet were doing that he didn’t notice that big table looming before him at eye level.
• Explain that accidents happen.  Just because it was unintended doesn’t mean that your child can always understand that.
• Try again.  Some say the best way to get over falling off the horse is to get back on the horse.  The same goes for unexpected disappointments like accidents.   The plate was non-breakable and the eggs cost 17 cents to make.  I wouldn’t recommend handing your toddler a bowl of cheddar soup and sending him out over your new Persian rug, but getting scrambled eggs up off the hardwood floors took a total of 7 seconds.  I brought Ethan back into the kitchen, made him another plate of eggs and sent him back out with the new plate.  He carried it perfectly and was in a much better mood because he had an opportunity to right what he thought was a “wrong.”
  

It's important to remember that some messes are intentional and some are just accidents.  If you react the same way to both, you may be sending your toddler a message that "being bad" and "making mistakes" are the same thing.  That just might result in your toddler being frightened to try out new skills.  Believe me, it's easy to say when the accident happened on the hardwood floor and not on the carpet.  That's when the need for parental patience kicks it up a notch.  Good luck!