Our near 3 year old, will not listen.
I know it’s normal ect for the age
We’ve recently had our second who is 5 weeks old, and she loves her.
But do believe the acting out is caused by this, but I have no idea what to do anymore I’m at my wits end.
It’s no to absolutely everything, from getting dressed so we can go to the park, changing nappies, asking simple things.
She’s hitting and screaming at us, which she only ever use to do rarely it’s now a daily thing.
To the point she starts coughing.
We’ve tried time out in her room, which use to help now does nothing.
This can go on the whole day, we try and pick the battles but when it comes to stuff like getting dressed or changing her nappy we can’t exactly not let her.
I don’t even want to leave my house because it just ends in her screaming even by simply getting asked to get her in her car seat.
I don’t know what I’m asking, I’m just overly stressed about it and any advice/ tips.
1 Replies
I think you have the reasons nailed. And I can imagine that with a new tiny person in the house that tensions are high, everyone's getting used to the new situation and your todder is no different. Remember, she's not only getting used to a new person in the house, this new person is taking a lot of Mum and Dad's attention and that would be hard for her, so she's understandably feeling some big things about that. She has to share the love of her parents, share the house, deal with the additional demands that baby is placing on the household, disruption of routine and so on. While she's showing a lot of interest in and affection to baby, her feelings will be conflicted and she will also be feeling jealousy, anger, loss and many other emotions. And she will not have the skills to cope with and voice those emotions so she's acting out in other ways.
I know that behaviour will likely be pushing your buttons hard right now, and your patience is likely low, but the best thing you can do for her is love her as much as you can. Show her she's loved, show her she's special. Spend special one on one time with her where possible, get her to help with baby if she wants, get her involved and also show her how awesome being the big girl is - do things with her that only "big" girls get to do. Focus on positive behaviour and reward it, try very hard to be patient and not react to the tantrums and challenging behaviour.
An excellent mantra that helps me in times of challenging behaviour "My child is not giving me a hard time, my child is having a hard time."
Good luck.