Anybody else driven to despair by their nearly three year old?

[emkana]

She never ever ever does as she's told.

I tell her not to do things - answer is always "But I want to"

Find myself ALL DAY repeating the same things to her "don't do this" "do that"

Have withdrawn all treats and the bedtime story today - have my doubts though whether it will make any difference...

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh

My usual advice would be to go out, but I realise that you are very pregnant and so I have no advice - but huge amounts of sympathy.

Ds is 3 and is going through a phase of copying the naughty kids. When I tell him to stop xxxx he says "but Jack's doing it".

I'd be tempted to use bribery - when you see her doing something you don't like say "hey, what about a story with mummy?" In the long run it's probably quicker.

in a word... yup.

some days can be brilliant, others can be sheer hell.

we have a few methods of dealing with her, like withdrawl of priviledges or putting her bedtime toys in cupboard until she can behave nicely......but argh!!!!!!!!!

Yup. Have a ds who is 3 in Dec and a dd who is 6 in July, they are a little fighting frenzy when they get together! Dd is much better than ds though, who snatches toys off her, scratches her, pulls her hair, slaps her etc. He refuses to eat now unless we feed him, which I absolutely refuse to do so he can bloody well starve! He apparently has no knowledge that he has done a poo or a wee. He can still wake us up from time to time at 2 or 3am. He throws the biggest wobblers I've seen!

But then he is incredibly cute with it all!

So glad this is not just me - could have written your post!
Mine is 2 and a half and exactly how you described!
In fact, I have just finished making a star chart for her, bought EyeQ chewie sweet things (she hates the liquid) and have agreed with DH to "get tough" and be consistent. It is a nightmare isn’t it? Mine is so stubborn that it is going to be a long road AAAAAGH.
I have introduced three simple house rules (already there but have made a pact with DH to focus on these alone/repeat them over and over/let other stuff go for now etc)
a) No spitting
b) No hurting anyone
c) No shouting
She seems to have taken in the rules over the last couple of days but it is tricky. Over the last couple of weeks she has progressively got more angry and louder/defiant etc
Poor DD1 has scratches all up her arm - and forgave her younger sister instantly.

I find it hard that DD2 just has no empathy whatsoever - her empty sing song "sorry" is hard to swallow. I have to remind myself that she is not even 3 yet etc etc but still important to get her to learn about consequences (I think).
The only thing I do know is that she tests my patience hourly more than her big sister ever did and I am knackered!

I know all the stuff about being calm, consistent, offer realistic targets, loads of praise, incentives, sort out food/bedtime as well etc etc but knowing the theory just doesn’t make the day by day reality and new ways of testing us any easier.

She even has that little curl right in the middle of her forehead, just like the nursery rhyme....

Yep - Ds is 3 in 3 weeks. I have got really hard with him. If he doesn't do what have asked or does what I've said don't do he goes in the naughty corner for 3 mins - every time - 1 warning as he starts doing or not doing and then if it doesn't stop straight in the corner. Had a couple of really really hard days where he spent 10/15 mins a time being put back in the corner but the last few days have been easier - calm before another storm maybe? I found I ran out of privilages to withdraw - what the heck do you do then?

Hope it get's easier soon for you.

H x

My nearly 3 ds3 has turned into Mr Independant/Indecisive over the last couple of days.
When he's not roaring "NO! I!!" at me he's sounding like that bloke off the Vicar of Dibley "no no no yes no yes no yes"

aaaaaarrrrrrgggggghhhhh!

Yes, mine turned into a monster when he had his 3rd birthday. I hated that year!