My DD is very strong willed and although she is pretty angelic most of the time, we have noticed recently that her temper tantrums are getting more frequent. Meal times are mostly a nightmare as she hardly touches her food and wants to constantly mess about. When we try to instill some discipline she starts being cheeky blowing raspberries etc and telling us to shut up! Sometimes when I refuse to give in to her demands she kicks and hits me and has a full scale meltdown. Tonight she really hurt me with her fist (she's tiny but strong!) all because I didn't give in to one of her many trivial demands (she wanted me to get a different book at bedtime even though we had a pile of books next to the bed). I gave her a brief kiss, said goodnight and left the bedroom after which she started crying and following me. She knew I was upset and did apologise. I can feel her frustration and anger sometimes and she just gets more and more hysterical. She obviously doesn't understand it herself. Her teacher says she is very well behaved at school. We have an older DD who is 5 and have never had such problems.
Is there anything I can do to help her? I think I am guilty of being a bit soft sometimes as it's easier than dealing with a meltdown but then she pushes me to the limit and I can feel myself about to lose control. DH doesn't know how to handle her either. We do the naughty chair and sometimes send her to her room. Eventually she calms down and it's like butter wouldn't melt until the next! Any advice much appreciated. Thanks for reading.