Nearly 3 Year Old Dreadful Behaviour

[pommedechocolat]

DD1 is nearly 2yrs 11 months. She has never been angelic (stubborn, really independent, gets frustrated) but pre xmas was probably a pretty good toddler on the general scale.

She did 2 x mornings at pre school and one day at nursery sept-dec in the UK and all was good. We moved to a different European country over Xmas and one month in she is TERRIBLE. Runs off when we're out and about, screams, shouts no when asked to do anything, constant tantrums, some kicking etc.

She is doing 5 mornings a week at the International School here. Is it the school? I havent been overly impressed but feel the alternatives (Italian school or nanny) are not great either.

We have been hoping it was the change but a month in she is getting worse not better! dd2 is coming into her own more (nearly a year old now) which probably isnt helping.

What can we do to stop living like this?? Its pretty bad....

You've got a close age gap like me.DS1 was awful at this age.The change of environment and having a newish sibling probably haven't helped.All I can say is that in my case it has improved 6 months later as they understand more,adapt to fit in at nursery and language & ability to express themselves improves.2.11 is old enough to understand consequences of bad behaviour.Can you do naughty corner /taking toys away with her when she is being v badly behaved?You have to choose your battles and it is against my instinct to be really strict but when I stepped up the discipline I did start to see an improvement.Also,in my case sometimes the bad behaviour was a cry for attention when feeling tired etc so what they really wanted was a cuddle and a bit of quiet time.I totally sympathise with your frustration but keep going,it will improve!

Also was going to say,if she's at nursery and you have another one do you ever spend any time alone with just her?DS was and is always much better when it's just me & him.If it's at all possible I think all children need a bit of that although harder to do with more than 1 sibling.

Thanks beatrix. I was hoping someone was going to say nothing to do with sibling! We probably don't have much alone time just the two of us actually. Something to think about for sure.