I'm sure this thread could've been written a thousand times.. I need some advice on my toddlers behaviour !
My son now 3 is displaying some challenging behaviour. He has always been a firecracker but because he is now getting stronger this is becoming more challenging.
Yesterday my partner and I took him clothes shopping with us-( I did not want to do this .. I could forsee the issues ) he had recently been sleeping so was in the buggy which for shopping is much easier because when out of the buggy he struggles to stay close and tries to run free.. ending in a struggle.
I had to leave them to run to a toilet and I could hear my son was starting to get angry. When I returned he was out of the buggy - my partner kind of stuck as he had a load of clothes to pay for. When I got back he immediately took his clothes to the till , I asked my son to hold my hand and we would go and look at little boy clothes. This was fine for about 3 seconds until he saw some spidey goggles he wanted. There was a tantrum which I just waited out while waiting for my partner to pay.
After he settled he wandered to the toy section where I let him look at.some toys. We repeatedly told him no toys today but dad gave him a pound and told him to save his pennies and he could come back and buy something.
Went from toy to toy then he found a toy he really wanted. We remained firm and he held onto the toy.. all of us delaying the inevitable. When he started to try and run away with the toy I stepped in and picked him up and dad took the toy. He bit my arm and I immediately put him into the buggy .. there was a lot of protesting to this. So we made a b-line for the car and there was a massive struggle to get into the car ( my face is scratched to bits ) but we got there.
I feel my partner is not a great help in these situations - he stepped in to buckle our son into the car seat when he screamed for dad to do it but otherwise was very hands off during the struggle. When he does try to help he does not have the same patience as me and I don't like how angry he gets.
In the car we spoke about being kind a d I explained that my.son had hurt me and he was very emotional about it .
We go on with our day and again another tantrum at dinner as he tried to put a full bag of cheese on his dinner. Again Again stood firm remained calm and took the cheese away - I would say this tantrum went on uncharacteristically long and I ended up having to put my son upstairs because he was going to hurt himself. Again he tried to bite me in pure rage twice.
I have now taken one of his toys away and explained when he hurts or bites anyone he will have toys taken away.
I have previously read that this isn't a good tactic to handle bad behaviour but I literally feel so stuck. I cannot allow my three year old to attack me and I also can't ignore unsafe situations.. I feel as a parent these days you cannot do right for doing wrong.
Does anyone have a little boy with a similar temperament that can give me advice on how you get through these stages ?
Also my son goes to nursery 4 days a week .. it's easy to deflect but I feel this is the source of some of his bad behaviour. Although I'm sure nursery's need to be fairly strict with kids to keep other children safe?