4 year old bad behaviour

[TheChineseChicken]

4 year old DD is frankly quite hard to be around at the moment. Shouting, hitting, refusing to do as asked, screaming, spitting and dribbling among other things. She can be absolutely delightful when in the right mood but at other times I’m struggling to keep my cool.

Please tell me this is just a normal phase?! Other than calmly letting her know that such behaviour isn’t ok, what else can I do? She’s a very bright and headstrong child.

My 4 year old dd is going through a demanding stage, these past few weeks have been tough as she is really asserting herself against her sister, also very strong willed, I'm waiting it out

It’s really tiring, isn’t it? And it makes me sad as her real self is so lovely. She seems to get very wound up and angry about things.

My 4 year old daughter is the same at the moment. She has always been a bit sassy but she is on another level at the moment, I really hope it passes soon, I just want to enjoy her being little but it's very difficult to do that when she's being so deliberately defiant almost all of the time.

My 4 year old daughter is the same at the moment. She has always been a bit sassy but she is on another level at the moment, I really hope it passes soon, I just want to enjoy her being little but it's very difficult to do that when she's being so deliberately defiant almost all of the time.

DS (5 in January) very similar. It does go up and down, he's been lovely the last few days.

Yes, the behaviour can change so quickly. I’m never sure how to handle it. Do I ignore? Or sympathise? Or just tell off?

When she’s having a strop I leave her to get on with it and get it our her system. She’s often perfectly nice afterwards. But when she hits or spits it feels like I should be doing more

Mines the same! I came on here to post for advice. He is just so insistent. Demanding and whining over and over to wear me down for something. It’s also not all the time. He can be an absolute joy as well. My other problem is he wakes at 5am and I don’t know what to do abou that. He has a clock and we don’t go down till it goes yellow but he’s basically climbing all over me and moaning until he’s allowed to go downstairs. Oh and I’ve never managed to get him to sleep in his own bed (bar about a month over summer) all went backwards again when he started school. Any help gratefully received here too.

My DS is 5 next month and definitely has his challenging days/phases! His behaviour was pretty good over lockdown/the summer, but has regressed since starting reception in September and he's doing things like hitting out at us etc.

I have no tolerance for hitting and always give a warning with a consequence if he does it again, depending on what's going on at the time eg if the TV is on and he hits, I tell him if he hits one more time the TV will go off. Always follow through.

His attitude is probably the worst thing at the moment, he can be so cheeky/rude and deliberately tries to push buttons of everyone else in the house!

Like pp's DC's he can also be an absolute dream!

Could have written a lot of these posts myself. My DS is really pushing at the moment. He is 5 in March. He's lovely some days and hardwork others. He gets angry and frustrated so easily and some days is just so grumpy and rude. It's so hard because when he's in good mood he's a joy to be around but I just don't know who I'm getting from one day to the next. The last few days he has also regressed to 'baby talk' which is very annoying! It's comforting to know that I'm not only one so hopefully the phase will pass soon!