Commiserate with me about your 3 year old...

[SunDancerAcres]

If fact right right he went over turned the babys swing off and is getting in his face calling him a butthead ????? and asking him if he is stupid (which is a word I really dont approve of and he knows it).

[LittleThingsMama638]

My DS sounds just like your DD but he won't be 3 for another month. I feel like I'm going crazy, I have days where I yell way more than I ever want to because he just won't listen and nothing else works. DS does the same stuff to DD that yours does but DD is 5 weeks old and I can't take it, he knows he can't do things because it will hurt her yet he does it anyways. And when he's in his defiant moods, I'll remind him to watch his movements when he's sitting next to her so he doesn't hit/kick her and he will look at me and do it on purpose. He was such a great kid, I don't know what happened! I've been reading Raising your Spirited Child (this is DS) and trying those techniques and trying to just understand him a little better and it helps some but goodness some days I just don't have the patience. There's nothing like your kid in his bed for 2 hours refusing to sleep, and yelling at you and kicking the heck out of his bed. He's not crying, doesn't want me, and there's nothing wrong, he sits in there and yells things like "come in here now" and "i am not dealing with this anymore".

[UnderTheStars]

Originally Posted by travelmama24 Our DD is so smart, sweet, loving, caring and then...BAM! It's like a someone flips a switch and she's stomping, saying no and being downright defiant. We always say to her "1, please stop (or please do this), 2, stop NOW please (or do this NOW please) or you're going in timeout, 3 timeout" and that usually works, but there are times when that doesn't even scratch the surface so off to timeout she goes.

We do the 1.2.3 warning system here too. It *usually* works, but unfortunately the times it doesn't it blows up into an all-out trantrum fest. I tell her repeatedly that I will not speak to her when she is screaming/crying and that she needs to calm down first, to which she responds "I DON'T WANT TO CALM DOWN! <enter another scream here>". Yeah, loads of fun. I usually wait her out.

Part of my problem stems from the fact that her younger (17mo) brother is extremely clingy right now so I never seem to get that one-on-one time with her, and even though she doesn't vocalize it I know that is part of the problem. I'm trying really hard to combat this, it's a daily challenge though.

[jeebee]

Yeah... I am feeling a bit better seeing that other people have the same issues with their 3yos. People seem to think 2 is a bad age, it was way better than 3 for us. We do the 1-2-3 thing when we're getting no response, and I get to 2 and she will scream loudly. It's ridiculous. I feel like we have tried every discipline technique and all that is left is to wait it out! We have had 3 awful awful days, like for example yesterday she screamed for about an hour while I was shopping, she wouldn't stay close to me so ended up strapped into the stroller, then screamed and then demanded a treat which i refused to reward, so more screaming ensued. It was embarrassing! I had to pay for my groceries and get out of the store with her just screaming and crying and other people staring and wondering why i would just let her scream like that. But she wouldn't calm down and listen to anything! I couldn't even try to talk to her so I just had to let her scream until she had finished. She is so demanding... and the person who said their child lies in their bed yelling demands... yes she is EXACTLY like that. It drives us bonkers!