OK, so *now* I need to start being the bad cop... but he just makes me laugh.. how do you do it?

[Jackaroo]

DS turned 2 earlier this month, and I htink the terrible twos have started just because he's now in a room of 2-5 year olds (see previous thread on not sleeping/crying because of the move)..
Slowly he's getting used to it, and now bounces home very happy.. but has learnt some interesting behaviour!
If he continues to do something I don't want him to do such as opening the fridge door and surveying the contents for a long time, I just remove him a few yards and shut the door. So far I haven't had to do this more than a few times before he gets bored and follows my suggestion to play/read/help me with "mixing" (if I'm cooking)...
BUT, I finally lost it yesterday when he was very obviously being naughty for effect...
I said "mummy's VERY cross".. and he said "{ds name} is very cross too" and put on a pouty face that made me burst out laughing.

Jsut so I know, how should I have handled that?!

Sometimes it's okay to laugh! Especially at that age.

The other day ds (3 1/2) was told by the husband to get his coat on and ds didn't want to so he ran screaming through the living room into the kitchen. So husband tells him he's not going wherever they were going so ds ran back to the door screaming because he did want to go. Hubs was cut short from telling him off because I just cracked up. So we all laughed and everything was fine... and so far ds has not run screaming through the house again so I don't think there was lasting "damage".

A lot of the time I laugh on the inside even while in stern mummy mode.

mm, I guess I need to work on keeping the laughing on the inside. I don't think I've ever really managed to be cross with him and him know I mean it....

thanks for replying, does help!

But I think that was fine! He KNOWS you were cross, he knows he did something wrong, because you told him. He managed to use his charm and personality to turn it into something positive and change the mood.

Good stuff all round

just because he made you laugh doesn't mean he didn't hear your message as well.

jack - agree with honoria thats a great way to diffuse a situation, he sounds like a smart boy, he could give advice on here

my 3.6 year old sometimes get cross with me and does his pouty face, and i try to make HIM laugh. Perhaps im just a big kid lol

Wear a polo neck and roll it up over your face.

I'm in agreement. It just shows he understands what 'cross' means. Ergo he knows you were cross so he knows he did wrong. You don't have to be cross for long to get the message across and the sooner you all cheer up after whatever incident the better. So this was actually a good thing.

Yay DS!! Thank you all so much, what a positive way of looking at it