Is this normal for a 3 year old?

[Everestt]

Hi all

I am wondering if this is normal 3 year old behaviour or not. Most of the time she is very lovely and kind. But everyday recently there has been some part of the day where she is being very difficult.

1. She keeps having mighty tantrums over very small things. She kicks, screams, slaps out and try’s to headbutt me.
2. she throws things all around the room.
3. She wants to have everything her way and gets very upset if it isn’t.
4. She asks for something and when I give it her she said she doesn’t want it and throws it.
5. She asks for something and then says ‘no not that one’
6. If her food is cut up or if there’s a tiny piece that has broken off something she gets upset and asks for a ‘better one’
7. If something is not done a certain way she will have a melt down about it.
8. She keeps running off from me when we are out even though I have told her many times it is dangerous but she seems to find it funny.

She pretty much gets really upset if things are not exactly how she wants them and it is very hard to rationalise with her.

Is this normal for her age?

Yes

Completely normal

Search MN for cutted up pear

If it helps by 5 they’re more rationale

My son went through a terrible stage at about that age, very similar behaviour. Lasted a good few months but then slowly for better. He’s now a completely average 8 year old. In the midst of it I was convinced there was something more (considered PANDAS for a while). Some how it passed tho, but it was awful while it lasted.

TBH OP if you put anything other Than that list then I’d be worried for you 🤣 100% normal. Welcome to the age of the Threenager. Fasten your seatbelt

My HV said when they hit 3 their tantrums are fewer but make up for that in intensity.

I have a 3 year old girl. Yes to most. Was so stressed earlier because I gave her a babybel. She HAS to open it herself but if she accidentally snaps it in half its the end of the world 🥹 she also got really upset because I tied her laces and the loops were too small...
Oh and if daddy tries to fasten her carseat she kicks and screams asking me to undo it and do it again myself 😅 she's perfectly lovely apart from that 🥲

I could be reading about my own 3 year old. I'm hoping this is just another 'phase'.

OP follow Mama Still Got It on Instagram/FB/Tik Tok, she has a 3yo and does very funny videos about life with a toddler. My favourite is the Easter video where she parodied an Easter egg hunt with her DD, where (her dressed up as) the DD says “Mummy don’t help me!” So the mum goes to relax and then the DD screams “Mummy, help me!!!”. It’s eerily familiar 😂

I would say it’s normal but don’t dismiss it as normal if that makes sense.

Mine was like this at three but didn’t seem to grow out of the tantrums. Over time we have recognised she is a highly anxious child and also has sensory processing disorder.

I wouldn’t say she has special needs but we’ve certainly had to adapt the way we manage her emotions to make it work for everyone over the years. She’s eleven now. She still has (much less regular) emotional outbursts.

So I would say dont sweat it as v likely she will grow out of it but be mindful of it in case she doesn’t

No, not normal in my experience with DD3 but given what I’ve read on MM very normal and I’ve been blessed with a very easy going child :)

I would say yes normal. My dc weren't too bad, but had their moments, I think they did everything on the list you've written at some point or other. They are 10 and 8 now and are nice rational children.

Absolutely normal. I always thought my children were far worse at three than the ‘ terrible twos’.
Dont worry, there is an improvement by the time they go to school.

Very normal I think - it’s what my DS, aged 3, is like.

Keep an eye out if she’s still behaving like that aged 5, but be firm with setting boundaries and she should grow out of it.

Definitely normal, DD will be 3 next month and we're just hitting this stage, the "terrible twos" have been a dawdle compared to this. We're having fewer tantrums but the ones we are having are massive and it takes a good while for her to calm back down again. I find giving her uncomplicated choices helps her rationalise a bit better and helps her to feel like she's in control, like would she like an apple or a pear, would she like the skin on or off, chopped up or whole. Don't get me wrong some days there's absolutely no pleasing her, we also have the running off thing too but I think that's just part of having a 3yo.

Yes. Completely normal. I was prepared for terrible twos that never happened. 3 was a shocker.

if you had not have given her age and only the list of behaviour I would have said .... yup , that post is about a three year old . Hang on in there , it does get better .

Thank you everyone. Very reassuring. Yes I would say her tantrums are less often now she has turned 3 but definitely bigger tantrums when she does have them. She was very very upset earlier because she wanted to ride her scooter on the road and not on the path and I wouldn’t let her of course!

I read the ‘cutted up pear’ thread @LittleBearPad it made me laugh 😁very familiar

Yes, sadly completely normal. My DD hit the worst of it at about 3yrs 6m and now we're a few months further on and she's already starting to settle back down. The tantrums are still there but they're much shorter lived, or are just a brief whine rather than a full on tantrum.

My three year old is definitely like that in some aspects. In fact I try to avoid building things out of Lego with him as he will ask me to make say a car, I'll try and make a car and he will get all upset as "it's not right". 🙈.

He was trying to draw a picture of himself the other day, I told him to draw a circle for the head, he did so but then cried as "that wasn't a head". The same thing when I drew a circle!

He tried to stick food (eg breadsticks) back together if they have snapped and gets upset when it doesn't.

I tell his older brother he will get more reasonable when he gets older.😂

We are in the midst of this hell too with our very wilful just turned 3yo who has started to lash out and scratch/pull hair when tantrum-ing. It’s driving me insane. A (helpful..) older friend told me that she remembered her dcs as having the terrible twos, the troublesome threes AND THEN the fing awful fours. So, I’m glad that I’ve another 2years of this sht to deal with ….

Sounds just like my 3 year old. They can be awful!!!

Yes normal. It does get better I promise

@Newuser82 mine does that too. She will ask me to build something and say ‘No, not like that. Like this’ 😂

100% normal. My 3 year old even likes to control the way I say goodnight - "no mummy, have to say see you in the morning" and god forbid I give her the purple plate instead of the pink one, it's like the world is ending! She's generally a very easy going child by when the mood strikes her she throws almighty tantrums.

Oh yes, mine also wants his plate and cup to match, so if he has the blue plate he wants to have the blue cup, if he has the pink one then wants the pink cup. Goodness they are funny.

I find it quite infuriating. I wonder why he keeps getting the Lego out as nothing is ever how he imagined it 😂. Poor boy!