OMG. My lg has just turned 3 & she has all of a sudden turned into this little brat of a kid!! The sulking, the back chatting, the fighting with her little brother. She's really doing my head in. Have others found a change in their kids when they hit 3??
Mine happened just before 3 and has continued now that he's turned 3.
I ask him to do something and the answer is either 'no, don't want to' or 'you do it'.
I'm finding that now is really the time to be consistent and follow through... We always say 'if you don't clean up your toys, I'm going to take your 'insert item' away'. But we just keep repeating and don't follow through every time, need to be more consistent!
I'd had enough the other day. She wanted to play play dough. I warned her beforehand if she was naughty I'd throw it in the bin. She was, gave her one chance. She was still naughty, so I threw it in the bin! That's when the tantrum started. I ignored her then repeated to her why I did what I did - reminded her what she had done and what the consequence would be and that's why I did it. It's hard following through sometimes.
All my threenager has done today is whinge and whine. No words just moaning!! Decided we needed to get out of the house.... Took the car to get the tyre fixed and she's fallen asleep on my lap. Nawwwww now I love her again.
Oh I'm glad it's normal and not something I'm doing wrong, DS1 will be 3 in October and over the last few weeks he has turned into such a brat! He is so full on! Every minute he is awake he is doing something he shouldn't and its driving me crazy! I have to constantly be stimulating him with some form of activity but the second I turn my attention to something else eg, talking to DS2 or preparing lunch. He starts acting up and it's usually poor DS2 that cops it by the end of the day I'm physically and mentally exhausted
I remember DD1 going through that stage when she turned 3 as well. I wondered what on earth I had done to make her turn out like this!! lol. Luckily it was only a phase and it didn't last too long. Hang in there!
Transition times are always hard for kids and parents!
I try and remember that they are going through something, not me so I need to offer lots of hugs and support, as well a very firm boundaries about some things. I find the more you try and control them the worse it is so pick your battles! I am really firm about safety and property damage but I had to relax a lot about other things.
Try and go with the flow and say yes as often as possible, even if its a yes but answer: yes we can blow bubbles but outside, yes we can do jumping but out on the trampoline etc.
Good luck! I actually found 3.5-4 hardest for us, but dd does seem to be more challenging in the lead up to a birthday and just delightful around her birthday (I don't want to say delayed but in some ways she does hit those emotional milestones later). So far ds is bang on his birthday!!
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Behaviour change at age 3
by the end of the day I'm physically and mentally exhausted
I remember DD1 going through that stage when she turned 3 as well. I wondered what on earth I had done to make her turn out like this!! lol. Luckily it was only a phase and it didn't last too long. Hang in there!
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