advice please....
i would also like to say before i start, that dd1 is not like this all of the time. she can be the sweetest most loving thing and i adore her, however sometimes she...
...is argumentative, stubborn (she is 5), insistent, always trying to negotiate, in short will not do as she is asked, but always wants to do whatever she wants to do. she smacks, kicks, spits even (yuck), pushes and does that "nah-nah nah-nah-nah" thing when someone else is upset or being told off. she has never bitten anyone or pulled their hair. she has also started using the word 'hate' a lot. i have tried to explain how strong that word is and how it can hurt. i have said it would be better to say 'dislike' instead.
I don't smack, don't believe that it can help (like so many others here, i suffered bruises and chunks of skin being torn out of me as a child,so i know how much it can affect you), so her behaviour has not come from me. dh is the same as me, won't smack ever, so it doesn't come from him either.
if i ask her not do something she says "i will do it". if i ask her to do something, she will say "don't wanna".
the naughty step/time-out thing is crap. well is doesn't work here anyway. she won't stay on the step/outside the room but insists on just barging back in. she won't go to her room without me saying that i will take things away from her (barbie, my little pony, etc).
i simply say to her "conversation over. if you won't listen, i won't talk to you" it drives her mad. she gets upset and says "mummy pleeeease talk to me, pleeeeeease".
she apologises. we make up and have a cuddle afterwards, but it can be soooo draining. and, of course, if she is in that mood it can start all over again within minutes.
the talk talk talk thing, so far, is not working. i am hoping it is the influences of school that have changed her, as she has only been there since september, and that she will calm down when she realises she is 'herself' and doesn't need to be like everyone else.
anyone else going through this with their reception-aged child?
(ds is due to start in reception in september - aaaaaagh)