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Behaviour/development

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3 year old unhappy/behaving badly

7 replies

rhetorician · 07/02/2012 10:22

Not sure if this is simply a response to the arrival of dd2, but dd1 who previously slept all night keeps waking up wailing for mummy. She has had repeated accidents at nursery too (and there is a boy there that she is afraid of). We have constant tantrums, meltdowns, crying over the slightest thing (saying no to her about almost anything) with her screaming that she wants to go back to bed. Everything is a flashpoint - getting dressed, brushing hair, brushing teeth. We did have a good few days over the weekend with her doing as she was asked and firm boundaries in place. But this has all fallen apart again. I spend the most time with her as my DP is feeding the baby; I feel utterly miserable about my relationship with DD, and that I am failing her and failing as a parent. I don't know how to make her feel secure and happy again, and she makes it quite clear that I am not the parent she wants - at least until I dare to shower or go to the toilet.

She is very articulate, but quite shy and timid, afraid of things, and outwardly very fond of her baby sister. At the end of my tether with her though

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imaginethat · 07/02/2012 10:57

Oh dear. But if it followed new baby's arrival, yes, that is probably what has derailed her. I think time is a great healer, patience (what you have left of it), keep reassuring her and be careful how you phrase things e.g. not "I have to go because of the baby" but "You're such a big girl now, can you do this by yourself?" - which no doubt you are already doing.

Somehow you need to manage this all while being firm and keeping boundaries in place, feeding & holding your baby AND taking a shower. Easier said than done. Just keep doing what you're doing, you have had some success, and treat each day as a step forwards. I think it takes around 6 months to settle into the sibling thing, but it may pass a lot sooner.

rhetorician · 07/02/2012 12:23

oh well, in that case only another 4 months to go! dd1 did just say this morning that she didn't want dd2 to live in our house any more, so I guess this must be at the bottom of it.

thanks for your reply

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RillaBlythe · 09/02/2012 15:55

It's so hard. I spend half my time loving my 3 yo & wishing I could spend more time focused on her & half the time being driven to distraction by her. We also have a new baby - well 20 wks in now. It definitely gets easier as you all emerge from the fog... I've been making a big deal of it when I can do something just with her, emphasising the baby's deficiencies etc

nearlytherenow · 09/02/2012 19:22

This all sounds really normal - it was exactly DS1's reaction to DS2, anyway (and DS1 sounds a similar personality to your DD). He adores DS2 and has done since day 1, but his general behavious deteriorated massively after DS2 was born, and he just seemed miserable.

As others have said, the main thing that helped was time, but in the meantime we did eventually learn a few tricks to keep him happier. I abandoned the naughty step completely other than for physical aggression (he's not an aggressive child, so I used it very rarely), and focused entirely on positive discipline - at one point he was getting a sticker for every half hour that he'd managed to behave (the consequence of not behaving was only no sticker and an explanation as to why).

We had ringfenced mummy time every day, even if it was just half an hour. We bought a book of craft activities to do together. DS1 still refers to it as "Our Book". He would chose what we were making next, and the night before DH or I would get everything prepared (shapes cut out, paper and paint ready etc) then we'd find time, e.g. while DS2 napped, to make something together. He loved these sessions, and I think having actual "output" helped too - we'd put the pictures or whatever we'd made somehwere prominent, and talk about how we'd done them, or I'd tell stories involving the things in them (we made a lot of rockets, trucks, boats, submarines etc!) while I was feeding.

Later on I tried to involve DS1 in whatever everyday tasks I had to get done - e.g. he'd help me cook the tea during DS2's lunchtime nap, help me put loads of washing on etc. It was a bit of a nuisance as it would have been much quicker to do these things all myself, but I do think he got a lot out of feeling involved.

I got organised about toys, so that I could try to give him focused activities to do even when I couldn't help. His behaviour was much worse when things were a bit 'aimless'. So I put the lego up high, and jigsaws etc out of reach, and then used to get these things out at specific points in the day (if he had access to them all the time he just lost interest).

HTH. It really is mainly just time.

rhetorician · 10/02/2012 00:01

nearlythere that sounds very positive as an approach - we are having some good bits alongside the atrocious stuff - but dd1 clearly needs to be reassured that we still love her and care about her - so she follows me about all the time saying 'I love you' which is sweet and heartbreaking at the same time. Little things make it better - she and i ate lunch together, and went on the see-saw at IKEA Hmm - your tips are good and I will try to follow through on them

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Esther63 · 11/02/2012 09:25

I made some special time every day where I just tried to only do things with my older DD when my little DD was born. We did a puzzle or painting. Like your IKEA trips, just doing something fun! That makes is more fun for you as well.

I also found that a reward chart helped to encourage good behaviour. If you do have an iPhone, there is this app called "Nice Bear Naughty Bear". Cute animated pictures with songs for different behaviours. Good thing is that you always have it handy wherever you go and it includes "naughty bears". And you can set rewards so that your kid knows it will get a reward if it behaves well. itunes.apple.com/gb/app/nice-bear-naughty-bear-reward/id475960807?mt=8

rhetorician · 11/02/2012 22:55

thanks for all these - things do seem better. we have been making sure that she gets to bed in good time, as tiredness is definitely a factor, working very hard on praising her/ stressing how good she is etc. We also changed bedtime so that the 2 of them are getting ready for bed together, which seems to have really helped. I'm sure we're not through it yet (and perhaps never will be!) but things are better, certainly

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