I am starting to think my 3 year olds awful behavior is more than just typical threenager stuff. Sometimes she is awesome and sweet and listens....but then there are the other times where she is a nightmare. Literally, screaming, demanding, spitting, gagging, hitting. It's insane. My husband, my parents, everyone is at a loss as to what causes her to act this way and we have no idea how to get it to stop. We can all be giving her attention, or doing something fun, or she can be bored and not doing anything at all...there really is no pattern. It can be when she doesn't eat enough or when she has had plenty to eat. I could really use some advice, she's like a kid you would see on Nanny 911...I'm stumped.
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Any chance she has an ear infection? My LO was like this twice this winter, just an insane child, and both times it was an ear infection. After 48 hours on antibiotics she went back to a typical annoying 2.5 year old.
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No advice, just commiseration. We had a lot of this behavior at 3. We ignored what we could (tantrums, screaming, etc). If he was hitting it was an automatic time out.
Now that he is almost 4 (less than two weeks!), I've noticed the tantrums are becoming less, he is able to communicate his feelings better. He can tell us that something we did made him mad instead of screaming at us or hitting us. Don't get me wrong, he still throws tantrums and when he does he has to go to his room. But the intensity isn't as bad.
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Big hugs. Three year olds are weird. I posted a few days ago about DS crying at the playground... Well now he cries even more. Yesterday he started sobbing when I told him his shoes got wet. This morning he couldn't find his pants - more sobbing. It seems totally out of proportion to what sets him off and I'm also at a loss what to do.
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Just commiseration. Sadly, it's normal. Just look through my posts.
DD1 has been hitting at school and getting physical . It's been disheartening and we even scheduled a meeting with her teachers. But I think in the last week we've been seeing a lot of improvements at home and in school.
A tactic that her teacher came up with that's been having amazing results is letting her speak her piece first. In the last few days both her teachers and us have been able to diffuse an epic tantrum in 5 minutes. whereas before it would take over 30 minutes. We get down on eye level and ask her to talk to us and ask if she would like to go first. Sometimes she does and sometimes she lets us go first. The other day, DD actually understood DH's point, got really excited at his solution , gave him a hug and said you're the best daddy! This at after 5 minutes of what was an EPIC tantrum. Say what?!
DD is almost 4 and I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I think, for DD a lot of it is procession her emotions and frustrations. And learning to have. A good outlet to get it out. At school they have a sad spot. Lately M has been going there when she gets frustrated of her own accord. She will stomp off and say I'm frustrated . She turns the music on and picks a book out to look at. Whenever she's ready, she's welcome to leave the sad spot. I really like that I idea and would implement it at home if w ended it.
If the kids also really need to they will let them let out frustration on a stuffed animal by squeezing it really hard and saying I'm frustrated! Teachers explain because we can't hurt the stuffed animals.Hang in there!
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@Mama Bird: DD1 has always been very sensitive. She cries during Happy Feet! Even her teachers have mentioned she will get very sad and cry at the smallest / weirdest things. I swear it's like pre PMS! We just try to acknowledge her feelings, ask why she's sad and try to diffuse the sadness. A big one for DD is she misses her cousins. 9/10 when she puts on a sad face she will say she misses her cousins. I will explain that we'll see them very soon and ask if she wants to FaceTime them.
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