Are all toddlers stroppy or just mine

[lillylop]

It can honestly be anything, doll fell over, door open, or closed, anything at all and she has a meltdown. I swear shes getting worse. Take anything from her and she completely loses it. I generally ignore her but it is very trying. She can go from lovely to monster and back again in 30 seconds.

Sounds like dd2 19 months but practising hard for terrible 2's. Today's two biggest meltdowns were not wanting to wear trousers for the school run and not letting her empty the kitchen bin. She's going to go far in life with her determination and tenacity but boy is it hard work now.

Yes, I think so. I bought mine a gingerbread man, she cried for biscuits. So I gave her biscuits, then it was something else. She's not spoilt, she's just a crazy 2 year old. Tears over everything.

I have a 20 month old who is a bit more chilled out. He does whine a bit if you don't let him have/do something he wants but is easily distracted. He has the odd meltdown but only when overtired and doesn't tend to last long.

I think it's just luck to be honest. But there are a few things we do which probably help to keep the peace:

• We try as hard as possible not to let DS get overtired as this is probably the main cause of strops for us
• Not too much structure or strict rules about things, I tend to "give in" a lot on trivial matters rather than constantly trying to assert my control and failing!
• Most areas of the house are toddlerproofed so he can pretty much do whatever he wants without getting told "no" all the time
• No extremely desirable foods kept in the house like chocolate or biscuits (at least, not as far as DS is aware ) so he can't whine for that. Desirable foods like raisins or toast kept hidden from view when he's eating his meals so he doesn't get reminded!
• When he's doing something I want him to stop, I say something I do want him to do, instead of telling him "stop doing that", as "no" and "stop" only seem to spur him on! e.g. If he starts playing with the bin I'll say "Close the bin please! Good boy, now go and do [insert desired distraction here]" rather than saying "stop playing with the bin"... it doesn't work every time but I'm amazed how often it does!

When my 3 year old was around 18 months, my god, he was the stroppiest child EVER! Anything created a tantrum. Get him up, tantrum, put him to bed, tantrum, daddy comes home from work, tantrum, give him dinner, tantrum, don't give him dinner, tantrum, look at him the wrong way, tantrum, look at him the right way, tantrum, give him a cuddle, tantrum, leave the room, tantrum, come back in the room tantrum. It was bloody endless and went on until he was about 2! I thought it was going to get worse when he hit 2 being the Terrible 2s and all that but he actually turned back into my lovely little boy. Then he hit 3 and can still be stroppy but this is generally limited to when he can't get his own way.

My 3 year old is like this, it's worse when she's tired. Today she cried at breakfast because I gave her Weetabix rather than Porridge, after 10 minutes once she'd calmed down, she ate it with no complaints what so ever

The toddler years are exhausting.