I have an older girl who is 6. By nearly 4, she had stopped having as many tantrums. My son will be 4 in May.
He just seems really babyish still. He always wants to get his way and he just doesn’t let it go when he doesn’t get his way. He cries buckets of tears and screams his head off.
he is not happy to go to preschool some days. I can’t work out why. He just says he wants to stay with me. I’ve told his teachers who say he seems happy. But this morning for example, he was just refusing to get dressed. There is just a lot of resistance for routine tasks like going to bed. He often has a meltdown because he doesn’t want to go to bed.
at preschool they say he’s doing ok. Not always perfect at following instructions there but they say on the whole he is a sweet, clever, kind boy.
he is ok sometimes at home but other times it’s so hard. I do the usual, giving him choices to make him feel in control of decisions, but he is so determined to have it his way, that the strategies don’t work. It’s like he always just wants to do the opposite thing.
he is so demanding. When he wants something he will cry and whine until he gets it. Or another example, this morning in the car we listened to the song he wanted 2-3 times and then another song came on and my daughter and I wanted to listen to it, but he didn’t. He cried and complained the entire way through. I didn’t back down and change it, but had to listen to him complain and cry. He ruins things a lot for us, when it’s not what he wants. Another example is his jacket. He never wants to wear it/ refuses etc. we’ve had instances where he’s cried for 30 minutes because we made him wear a jacket.
I use a reward jar with him, which sometimes works. But other times not as much.
I know these are all normal toddlerish things and I’ve been through it all with my daughter. But with her, it was getting better at this age.
I can’t imagine him going to school in September ! I can’t believe he’s 4 in a few short months. He behaves like he’s 2 and a half, a lot of the time.
any advice ? Is it still normal for his age ?