tantrums testing me today

[driedapricots]

4yr old girl..driving me mad. It's been tantrum after tantrum & whingeing & whining inbetween. Nothing is working. Ignoring...naughty room... She has just been in naughty room (hallway) for 4mins screaming blue murder & when I said she could come out she then screamed she didn't want to come out. I just want to whack her one to be honest which is dreadful but am so wound up...hence walking away to write this. She is usually a 'testing' child & we really want to crack this as her behaviour is frankly horrible at times. She is bossy, unreasonable & thinks / expects the world to revolve around her...I know all usual for toddlers but how do we turn her into a pleasant little girl?! She's the sort of child I hated before I had children & now I've ended up with her as my daughter! Btw our usual approach is ignore whinging etc & naughty room for v bad behaviour...hitting bro, answering back badly etc..but its not making any difference...

What is she whingng for? I find with my bossy 4 year old that it's simply that she wants a cuddle, a story or a game...or even a drink! They're a bit crap at reading their own signals and sometimes a smple thing like needing a drink or something to eat can make them flip.

I've no idea! Offered all of the above & it continued all morn...just composing myself whilst she is at pre school for 2hrs now...roll on bedtime!

Oh god we ALL have days like that. It will be better tomorrow x

This sounds oh so familiar, as soon as our 5 yr old went to school he started behaving like this, full of attitude. Our 4 yr old is often losing control of his temper and emotions and I don't think he knows what he wants half the time and now our 2 yr old is copying both of them. We've tried naughty step etc but it doesn't work, I'm determined to improve their behaviour but as I speak to more and more parents, I realise everyone's children of similar ages are doing it too. My next attempt is to focus on the good. I read an article today and it sets the scene of a child playing nicely, so the parent takes this as a chance to put the kettle on or get some jobs sorted, then she hears chaos in the lounge and rushes in to tell her child off. This is a classic response, so the child has learnt that noise and trouble = moms attention and playing nicely = nothing. It really struck it home with me. I must praise more. The way you feel is normal it's hard flippin work. Try to start over tomorrow and see how it goes x