My mom always said she hoped that I had a child that acted like me (pay back I guess).... I think her hopes came true! Most days Ella is an angel. She is polite, soft spoken, creative, and a pleasure to be around other than her slight bossiness and whining. Her babysitters seem to have less trouble from her than we do here at home. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not. However, there are times... usually the same type of situation that will send our sweet angel over the edge. Today was one of them!
Ella loves her cousin Ava and usually is never ready to leave when the time comes. She and Grayson both go to Ava's house once a week while I am at work. There for a while she would scream like a mad woman when it was time to go home. Unfortunately, that made me almost dread those afternoons. On the other hand, she has gotten better at controlling her tempers on Thursdays which makes my life much easier! Today, for Father's Day, Kermie's family came to our church. I had a talk with Ella before we even got there about how she needed to leave without a fuss and that if we decided not to eat with Ava then there shouldn't be any moaning or groaning. She agreed and I had hoped for the best. Things didn't turn out quite so nice.... When lunch was mentioned, she threw a fit and literally threw her things at me, stopped the ground, screamed at the top of her lungs, and refused to move. The whole time she was throwing her tantrum, I had Grayson in the other hand as well as all of our raincoats and bags, so taming her wasn't an easy task. Finally, some lady came to help and Kermie got Ella out of the door!
To say the least, I always feel like a total failure on these kind of days. My child is acting crazy, I can't get her to be quiet, and our talk before hand had no affect on the situation. She literally drives me batty when she acts like this and drives me to tears which I hate because I am supposed to be the adult. We had a very long talk in the car about her behavior and had initially decided not to go eat with everyone, but I didn't think that was fair because I wanted to get to spend time with my own dad on Father's Day as well. So, we agreed that she would lose her tv in her room as well as a few toys and would have to sit in her chair while we were in the restaurant. She ended up doing really well while we were eating which made us happy to be able to enjoy our meal.
Kermie and I have decided that we are going to have to get tougher/more consistent with our parenting and discipline with Ella. This poor child is going to be sitting in time out for a majority of her summer, but I'm hoping that she realizes the correct way to act at home and out in public.
I'm not sure if anyone else has dealt with this, but if you know of things that work please share!!! I really enjoyed reading these sites: http://breezymama.com/2011/03/21/your-three-year-old/ and http://planningwithkids.com/2009/11/17/characteristics-of-three-and-a-half-year-old-behavior/.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
oh my goodness.... brooke, i was about to blog the same thing. you are NOT alone. little girls at this age have mood swings that i don't understand and like you i feel so defeated when i am the one in tears. i hope it is some comfort to know that another mama just a county away is having the same issue with a 3 yr old!
Well, I can only imagine how much tougher it is going to get, so I can't really talk to it.
I know there is no cure all, but Sam and I are reading the book "Parenting with Love and Logic" and finding it VERY HELPFUL. My bro and sis in law have used this technique with their 6 and 4 year old. It worked very well with their 6 year old and was less effective with their 4 year old. You may want to give it a try.
I think people make too much hype about the "terrible 2's", when 3 year olds seem to be much more moody...at least in my experience. Bailey's big thing is being so whiny. Her first response to everything is crying, which drives me crazy! I think you nailed it on the head, we just have to be consistent with them so they know what to expect every time...which isn't always easy. Good luck and remember you're definitely not alone!
Post a Comment