What do you do with a badly behaved 3yo?

[EmPuff]

Hi,

I've been debating this for some time but... my 3 year old is a handful to say the least. He's destructive, breaks everything, laughs in my face when told off, won't go to bed anymore without 3 hours of fighting, hits, spits, kicks & has the most horrendous temper tantrums.

We've always had a good routine because I work, and I'm studying for a law degree so he has always been in at nursery, came home, had a bath, gone to bed for 7pm. But recently he is just getting worse.

It's now 7:43pm, we've been up since half 6am, we've painted & played because I'm not at work today, but tomorrow he has to be up at 6am to be dropped off at my Aunts so I can go and do 12 hours at work, but he will not stay in bed!

He's trashed his room, tipped milkshake all over his bed, pulled all his pics off his wall. I'm at my wits end.

Side note; his Dad abandoned us 3 months ago but these problems were around long before that.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. I honestly don't know what to do.

Sounds as if you've got an awful lot going on there.

I've not really got enough experience to help but hopefully this will bump fir the evening crowd

I didn't want to read this and not reply as parenting a 3 year old is tough. I find my DS can behave like this when he's upset / can't communicate. Sometimes sitting on the floor and telling him he's making Mummy sad and asking for a cuddle is enough to bring him out of it. If you need to get away from him leave the room and count to 10, but otherwise I'd stay in the room, sit down and not fight with him, he'll calm down eventually. He'll be doing it to get a reaction & attention from you, staying calm works best.

How are you doing today @EmPuff?

Just had another thought, have you tried the book 123 Magic? I've not tried it but I've seen it recommended on here a few times.

He sounds like he needs attention. Can you take a term or semester off university and devote loads of time to him?

Thanks for the messages ladies.

Been snowed under with work & end of year assessments for uni.

Things aren't really any better. He's got a cold at the moment so that is adding to the behaviour, but I'm trying to be understanding. A lady at work suggested I complete the triple P programme so I'm looking into that, £80 is a lot to fork out now I'm alone but if it helps, then it's worth it.

@KangarooSally

He sounds like he needs attention. Can you take a term or semester off university and devote loads of time to him?

He gets a lot of attention. At home there is only him and I. The day I posted this I had spent the entire day painting & playing with him and he still misbehaved at bed time. If I take a term off I'll never catch up - law is intense. I've finished until September now though.