Our three year old ds has been displaying difficult toddler behaviours of late. And we are struggling to find a way of responding that feels right and that works. We follow an attachment parenting style with our ds. He is hitting us, throwing things at us and sometimes spitting. Refusing to get into his car seat. And the hardest of all is him not listening or even connecting with us when he is in a destructive mood, it's like he can't even hear us. We get on to his level, we look at him and try and he just continues with a whirlwind of destructive behaviour which leaves us feeling helpless and emotional. We have tried calmly putting words to his emotions, "are you feeling frustrated/sad/angry etc", we have tried distraction, rewards, consequences, we have tried being firm and as the desperation creeps into the plea's in our voices it just gets worse. I could be giving him totally focused one to one floor attention for an hour and as soon as someone else walks in the room they, or I, get pummelled. This is causing distress to my two teenagers.
Advice would be greatly appreciated!!!