irrational 3.5yo tantrums

[belinda77]

Hi, I'm hoping someone will be help my husband & I.We have a 3.5yo daughter who started nursery school in September. Since the Christmas holidays she has been particularly difficult with tantrums but only with us at home. She will scream, kick, hit, scratch & bite sometimes after we have asked her to do what we think of as simple tasks e.g. getting into the bath which tonight has resulted in 75mins of a tantrum. We do have a regular routine for her & can't think of any changes in the last while to bring this on. She is also an intelligent child & gets on well with others. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[MrsTawdry]

Do you give her some warning before she has to change activity? So "in ten minutes it will be bathtime."

Then "I'm running the bath now...can you hear it? So in 5 minutes it's time to get undressed."

I find mine have all needed notice before something changes so they can deal with it before it's sprung on them.

Also tiredness after Christmas is always BAD. Both of mine have historically been terrible little shockers at this time of year. As the days lengthen it does improve.

[belinda77]

We do generally try to give her warning as you suggested as well as getting her involved in the activity like putting the bubbles in.
I hope it's mostly down to tiredness & she will settle down soon as she's so wonderful to be with.
Thanks for your help!

[MrsTawdry]

It is a tough term in my experience and lots of the mums at school have been saying the same. Both my girls are nightmares at the moment.

[BuzzardBird]

Starting school and the exhaustion of Christmas would be my guess. Do you think she may be overtired? How many hours does she sleep? Does she have to go to after school club or anything? Does she goes winding down time?