Yep, DD was exactly the same. I used to feel very down when a mum at Mothers Group said that she'd only had to tell her daughter "no, don't touch the DVD player" once or twice and she never did it again. I could (and some days did) tell DD the same thing all day and it didn't make the slightest bit of difference. The only thing it did was send me bonkers. Ditto with everything else in the house.

But she IS much better now. I think DD just needs an explanation that she understands. Now I can tell her, "you can have this if you give me back my mobile phone " and she does it without a fuss or "yes DD, we can watch Winnie Pooh once you've finished your food."

They do get better, trust me. In the meantime, you just really have to choose your battles. It's hard not to feel like a bad parent or that they're a bad kid when you're in the thick of it but really, they're still only little, there's plenty of time for learning this stuff. Also, as you know all kids are different - some are naturally quite obedient I think and others are very spirited and their curiosity often gets the better of them.