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Please help me with my daughter

6 replies

notwhitedee · 28/11/2018 22:51

I have nc as I'm so ashamed to be asking for help here about this,
But my daughter is 3 nearly 4 in May.
Her behaviour is fucking awful, I've tried my hardest to make excuses for it, defend her from other people making comments etc. But I am loosing patience now.
Some examples are here

  • she can be very spiteful to her brother who is just turned 2.
  • if we are out somewhere she runs off, hides in rails, won't answer to me, just does her own thing, *if I ask her to sit down and watch a film at home with us she will sit down and then get up and walk about, open the fridge etc and not sit with us at all, unless I bring her back and make her sit down which I don't want to do at all.
  • she doesn't share, she interrupts when I'm speaking, she has no patience, she doesn't listen to any rules, if she can't get her own way she will scream and have a tantrum. *shes spiteful to older relatives or destroys things when we visit my mums for example like tipping all the bath products away. *she tells her brother to do naughty things to get him into trouble. I just don't know what to do with her anymore, sorry this is so long I've tried punishing her if I do the time out she will get back out and carry on, I've taken the tablet away she doesn't care. I just don't know anymore. I can't even go and meet up with a friend because she won't sit down for a minute or stop being so naughty.
OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Beemommy · 29/11/2018 00:52

Sorry no help but to me looks like a typical behaviour for this age Confused

Flambola · 29/11/2018 18:28

She's not really nearly 4 though is she? That's 6 months away. Sounds like normal behaviour for a 3 1/2 year old.

corythatwas · 29/11/2018 19:38

Sorry but a lot of it does sound normal for the age: you need to plan for it and decide:

when you are going to have to keep her under restraint (e.g. reins when out walking to keep her safe)

when you bring her back to watch the film and when you let it ride (the halfway house of not making her conform to your will but getting angry is the worst option)

when you are going to make her share and when you are not

when you need to keep her under surveillance (e.g. in somebody else's house)

when you are just going to ride out a tantrum

When my dd was her age, I did not even go to the bathroom alone because I thought she might seriously injure her baby brother. She has grown up into a lovely, caring adult with beautiful manners and on very good terms with her brother. Just stay calm, firm, but don't show her that she's flustered.

At this age, all the good behaviour doesn't have to come from her: if she doesn't run away because you've got her on reins, that's fine; if she doesn't hit her brother during a tantrum because you are holding her hands, that's fine; if she follows you when you go out because you are physically holding onto her arm, that's fine

Eventually, she will internalise that there isn't much point in trying to defy you because mummy gets her way anyway.

notwhitedee · 01/12/2018 00:25

Thanks everyone for the replies I was really stressed out when I wrote this and my family keep saying she has ADHD after thinking about it, I honestly think she's just being a kid. Will go back to doing star charts and just being more assertive with her as I have babied her really bad to compensate for having another baby after her. I was so scared of her feeling left out i sought of just let her do whatever she wanted to do which was wrong but im learning now I think l o

OP posts:
corythatwas · 01/12/2018 10:11

I don't think there is anything wrong with babying her a bit when her life has been turned upside down with a new sibling. I know I tried hard to be extra understanding with my dd when her little brother was born when she was 3.
If it's any consolation, I found the age of 3 by far the hardest of any with my (now both grown-up) children; far harder than the terrible twos, far far harder than the teens. It was the whingeing that stressed me out. Spent a lot of time on distraction activities- not to distract them but to distract me. Star charts never worked with either of mine (dd too stubborn, ds too absent-minded), but just being firm and cheerful and riding it out worked in the end.

anitagreen · 01/12/2018 15:09

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

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