Whinge! Whinge! Moan! Moan! Whinge! Whinge! Moan! Moan! Whinge! Whinge! Moan! Moan!

[JonesTheSteam]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DS (3) is driving me up the wall with his incessant whinging.

It's driving me crazy!!!!!

Today he's moaned about:

Having cheerios for breakfast (even though he asked for them)
Getting dressed.
Cleaning teeth.
Walking home from taking DD to school ('Mummy carry me')
Going for a poo ('Mummy come watch me!!!')
A dead fly on the lounge floor.
That he wants water (but won't wait for a minute for me to finish hoovering study)
That he wants dinner (because it's not ready instantly)


Please has anyone got any advice for me how to cope with this. I've snapped at him so many times this morning. Putting him on the naughty step just makes him moan / cry more!

I'm seriously considering putting him up for adoption!!! I just want my happy 3 year old back!!

[JonesTheSteam]

Please, someone?

[danceswithaSPRINGinherstep]

Could he be coming down with something. My usually happy dd can be just the same when she is tired or about to be ill. It's blardy tedious.

[Porpoise]

Jones, you need to develop ears like mine: they just don't hear whingey voices.
At least that's what my dcs think...

[danceswithaSPRINGinherstep]

If only this was you then you could just remove them altogether

[JonesTheSteam]

Have tried the ignoring thing - he just moans louder!!!!
Perhaps I need to do it for about a month before it sinks in!!!!

[Porpoise]

No don't ignore. Just say, really sweetly, "Sorry I can't hear what you're saying when you talk in that moany voice. Tell me again in a proper voice and then I'll see what I can do."
It does work, honest!

[bakedpotato]

Star chart?
Sticker for cheerful morning, sticker for cheerful afternoon
More positive than naughty step and more fun too

[marymoocow]

not that its any help but i have one too. Maybe we ought to stick them in a locked room together until they get the idea that listening to whinging isn't nice.
If he's not whinging he's waffling about nothing important instead of watching cbeebies like he should be at the moment

[annam78]

I had a bit of a moaner, and after realising that shouting etc makes him worse, I now act really silly around him when he's moaning, and ask him if he can make mummy laugh, he forgets what he was moaning about and copies my daft behaviour.

[marymoocow]

I take it all back actually. We had a parcel delivered this morning and he has spent the last 3/4 hour amusing himself with the empty box. He has been a jack-in-a-box, has drawn all over it, has been a monster and a robot, and now he's having a pretend picnic inside it with his teddys.
Moral of the story is they really can be lovely sometimes

By the by i can just hear my dh asking why we have a houseful of toys when a large box will do

[sunnysideup]

walking home and wanting a carry and wanting you to go with him to the loo are things that I think an awful lot of 3 yr olds want, and I don't think he's asking alot of you with those requests personally. I know it's also about how he says it though, but I think you can get round it by saying you can't hear him when he talks in his funny voice...

with the teeth and clothes i'd be inclined to remove his opportunity for moaning by making those activities into a bit of a goofy game, tell him you've discovered the toothpaste will make his teeth turn blue or something, tell him you'll beat him in the dressing race, or similar - just to divert his attention, make it more fun, and hopefully remove the chance to moan.

Do you keep talking to him or answer him more snip-snap? What I mean is "mummy I want some water" instead of "in a minute, let me finish the hoovering" why not just natter on "oh, yes of course you can have some water. I'll just finish the hoovering. Would you like your Thomas Cup? you would? how about a straw - what colour?" blah blah....just to A) let him know you WILL get water and B) leave less silences for him to fill with moans

Hope any of that helps.

[DimpledThighs]

there are days like this - it seems never ending but things will be different soon.

Give him something he likes or put the television on make yourself a drink and allow yourself 20mins non-mummy time.

It will be fine.

[danceswithaSPRINGinherstep]

Dimpled - I blardy love you. Bless you.

[exbury]

Usually when I really get to the end of my tether with DS whinging he proceeds to make me feel super-guilty by turning out to be ill

Other than that, a day of Mummy doing DS-stuff instead of daring to try and get other things done seems to settle him down for a while.

[exbury]

Try repeating to yourself through gritted teeth "it's a phase, it's a phase, it's a phase"

My DS is 4.4 now - you really don't want to know what the next "phase" is