17 month old challenging me and only me!

[pommedechocolat]

Dd has always been a feisty little thing but at the moment she is impossible - with me! She goes to nursery 2 days a week and has been fine there. Her dad looked after her on sat when I visited a friend and she was fine then too. He even remarked how different she was when I was at home.

For the last two weeks with me the slightest thing sets off a tantrum and everything seems to annoy her. I'm trying not to resort to cbeebies too much but that keeps her entertained and quiet like nothing else. She is also being difficult at meal times, eating little and creating horrendous amounts of mess. She's never been good at feeding - milk or solids but at the moment it's awful - with me!!

What am I doing wrong? I try to ignore the tantrums and then give her a hug afterwards. I try to get her involved in things I'm doing by giving her tasks and I try to do as many 'fun' things for her out of the house as I can.

Feeling like a bad mum that can't control her child!

[HangingGarden]

She's growing up and learning to 'push the boundaries' to see how far she can go. She's super with other people because she knows how to get a good response from you and so will do with others.
Stick to your guns (its not easy I know) but be firm, dont negotiate, tell her what she is doing wrong and ignore her tantrums. She will learn soon enough that bad behaviour presents no results.
Good luck! It is worth it in the end.

[TheSkiingGardener]

Stay firm! She wants to push boundaries, but that is scary, so she is doing it with the person she knows she is 100% safe with. Take it as a compliment, but I do agree it's a complete pain and feels awful.

[pommedechocolat]

Thanks both. I left her with my mum for an hour and half as well last week and she was a delight apparently . At least my mum had seen her at pizza express earlier at lunch when she'd had such a fit we'd had to leave!

It feels like you get the bad bits as a mum sometimes!