Toddler totally unfazed by discipline?

I hate the word discipline but it is probably the best word in this instance!

Does you toddler get it when they are being told off? Elle thinks it is great fun and smiles away not matter what we try. We have been having the same 2 issues (below) for a year now and are not seeing any improvement at all despite being consistent with our response.

Issue 1: ALWAYS running away when we ask her to come here or stop. If I let her walk from the front door to the car she will ALWAYS run off down the driveway. She has done this since she can walk. I deal with it the same way every day (I changed my approach after many months of no success but still she doesn’t get it).

Issue 2: Squealing happily at the absolute top of her lungs for hours and hours in the middle of the night. During the day if you ask her to be quiet she will freeze and stop talking or whisper but at night, as soon as we leave the room again she starts partying at the top of her lungs. We have been in every night recently and used the same approach:
First visit: we explain it is night and everyone is asleep and nighttime is for being quiet and sleeping so she needs to close her eyes and go back to sleep.
Second Visit: Tell her very firmly to be quiet
Third Visit: Tell her in no uncertain terms that she must be quiet.
We don’t usually go in more than 3 times but she almost always continues beyond that.
When we go in she smiles and is VERY happy.

Prior to this phase of going in to her at night we would just leave her to it (we didn't want her to get used to seeing us in the night) but as her night wakings were getting longer and louder, and she is old enough to understand "be quiet" we are now trialling going in.

If we put her in time out, she thinks it is great fun and sings or plays. This is fine as I know she doesn’t need to be miserable BUT it does mean she never actually gets it when she is doing something wrong so her behaviour in those areas doesn't change.

I know she understands emotions as she role plays all sorts with her toys…tells them off, tells them to stop and not run away, cuddles them when they are “sad” etc.

Is it just normal for a toddler to not understand or be fazed by discipline?

I don't know about the night time wake ups but for the running away I'd put a harness on her whenever you go outside (even for short walks) and explain when she's old enough to listen to instructions she won't need it anymore.  If you're really concerned maybe you could make an appointment to see someone like Diane Levy.

Have Elle and Ella been talking?? Maybe a little strategy-swapping?! We don't have the night playtime here but oh, the car/driveway/going anywhere dramas! Yeah, I think some kids are just completely unfazed by discipline. Ella quite liked Time Out in her room. She isn't a fan of her new TO spot (the laundry) now. Though that said, while she'll cry about being put in there, she often comes out still refusing to play ball. Some kids figure out really quickly that if they don't care about he punishment, it won't really matter. Little monkeys.

Thought about bribery for some things? I've used these tiny little bickies in the nappy bag... 'if you get in the car you get one of your bickies'. I don't use it a lot, but there are times when I'm trying to negotiate with her (offering a consequence if she doesn't do what she's asked) and I wish SO much that I'd just bribed her in the first place and it'd be over with already. Hey, even the Bible says that bribery works. I don't know that it's being recommended as such, but read whatever you like into it!

If it makes you feel better at all, my daughter was basically the same at 2 years & improved HEAPS by 3.

We continued the whole "if you do such & such, you will go to your room".
Trick was we would just put her in her room for most things she knew was naughty, after 1 warning. We went on & on about listening. "If you dont listen, you will go to your room"
Suppernanny huh? And there was the apologising for stuff.
Eventually, she learnt.

Have you tired the whole "Do you want mummy/daddy to be angry" trick?
For some reason our daughter just HATES it when she thinks we are angry at her. That helps LOL

I can only wish you luck, hope it all works out!

Have you tried ignoring her at night time, when she starts up with the happy noise (it sounds quite cute though, aw) just go in, tuck her back in or lie her down and walk back out? Or even dont go in at all? Just a thought.

I have the same problem with the running away so I just make sure i've got hold of her hand. Although this may become a challenge when I've got to get baby #2 out of the car too, aarrgghhh!

Maybe she's going to be night owl