dd is a bright, entertaining chatterbox of a 3 year old. She likes to be funny, likes to make people laugh, and likes to learn new things. She is generally compliant and craves attention (which she gets in bucketloads)
However, when she is naughty she can be very naughty. Deliberate naughty acts - hitting dog, throwing drink etc result in time out.
most other "naughty" behaviour though is boundary pushing defiance and not worth fighting as far as I can see (I would be fighting her all day). Simple things like "dd time to get dressed" results in her saying "neh neh ne ne neeer" and running away. If I use my cross voice (I am good at being firm) She blows a raspberry in my face and laughs hysterically whilst running away.
We ignore the rudeness and give her ultimatums - "if you're not here getting dressed by the time I count to 3 we're not going to...." "if you're not here by the time I count to 3, you are dressing yourself whilst I wait in the car for you" These ultimatums WORK.
However a close friend of mine recently suggested that I should be challenging her behaviour when she is rude and blows raspberries at me when I ask her to do something. I do normally breezily tell her that "nice little girls dont do that" whilst continuing with whatever I'm doing, but I can't help but feel if I did challenge her that I'm doing 2 things:
- Making a mountain out of a molehill and punishing behaviour that isn't eally punishable, it's just high spirits from a toddler - isn't it?
- Removing some of dd's humour and personality.
Having said that, I really don't want a precocious 8 year old refusing to do as I say or blowing raspberries at me when I ask her to.
WWYD?