Anyone else struggling with a threenager and fondly remembering the terrible twos??

[PoloMintCity]

Blimey, DS is hard going at the moment. It's been a very long day and I can't even have any as I'm pregnant with DC2. Anyone else going through similar and want to hold hands??

Just me then

You're not alone, his language is increasingly sophisticated but his emotions aren't. I told him off yesterday and threatened no story at bedtime and got a tearful and rather menacing "we'll see about THAT!". Also 5798532678 poo jokes an hour.

I hear ya!

every morning it goes like this -
me - "come on DS, time to get up!"
DS - "nooo, I sleep!" pulls covers back

theenager is so apt.

Threenager!! Brilliant. I have one of these. Poo is response to pretty much everything at the moment. I am tired...

Oh thank goodness! I trout I was the only terrible parent. I don't mind poo jokes, it's the constant ignoring, deliberate defiance etc etc etc that are wearing me down...oi...

What terrible twos?! I hate to break it to you, but it turns out that the tormented threes are closely followed by the fearsome, ferocious and * irritating fours...

Don't tell me it gets worse than the terrible twos!

On the plus side, my DD1 is turning into a lovely little girl. She's six. It's nice to hear her talk normally after three years of whining...

Well, maybe it's just me. But then I did spend 30 minutes today pulling a supermarket trolley round with DS2 lying on the floor and hanging on to the back wheel screaming. Thanks to all the lovely older couples who smiled sympathetically- but why would no-one take up my offer of a lovely lively child for the afternoon?

Today I committed some terrible crimes against my threenager (thank you!)

1. Rendering her scrambled eggs inedible by serving them out of the pan before those of her 7 month old sister.
2. Rendering her dinner inedible by not putting her carrots in the 'right' place on her plate.
3. 'Hurting' her legs by carrying her on my shoulders for 40 minutes while we walked home laden with shopping and a baby in a sling.

Grrrr....

DD1 did terrible 2, DD2 missed that memo and left it for after turning 3.

Every fecking school run is a battle of wills. There's one out of the 10 each week that she's in nursery for, so 9 times a week I have to drag her defiant little butt over a mile to get her sister.

This afternoon's effort included 3 sit-down strikes, a constant low level whine about wanting a piggy back (not going to happen anyway, but I have an allergy causing asthma at the moment), and refusal to hold my hand, necessitating the over-coat-wrist-grab-and-drag across the roads.

Her pushchair just died (wheel fell off) last week, but even though she's nearly 3.5 I think I need another. She did tend to fall asleep at the afternoon runs and I think she's just too tired for a 2 mile walk around 3pm. Plus I can strap the stroppy bugger down. I should get one...

Yes, stupidly I got rid of the tatty old pushchair on the grounds that 4.5 was too old to be strapped down. May have to buy a straitjacket and retractable leash instead. Oh, and a set of earplugs. For me.

I'm right up there with you! I thought the terrible twos were never going to end...the tantrums, kicking, head butting etc...and apparently this was all because he couldn't communicate any other way. Well, now he most definitely CAN communicate, and he still has the tantrums! I am constantly bribing, blackmailing, telling off, threatening (and carrying out!) no bedtime story/no TV...

It's exhausting. But I still love him to pieces

The threats and bribery are never ending! My threenager is a very sophisticated negotiator and while I realise I'm probably making a rod for my own back it's the only way I can avoid a very publicly humiliating meltdown. "Not yet" is his current favourite. Blowing raspberries all the time and saying "mummy you're a poo poo". And the embarrassing outbursts at people who look a little different "mummy that lady is fat/ naughty/ funny" etc. The trouble is keeping a straight face when I'm often laughing inside yet trying to be stern. Some days I listen to the things he comes out with and it's like holding up a mirror to myself. Others it's like he's been replaced by an alien. And he's so emotional when things don't go his way! Utterly charming around strangers and nanny and grandad though!

Mine is 2.5 but talks like a 3.5 year old. So I'm wondering if he's an early threenager.
Every sentence starts with "I'm not".

"I'm not going to the park/playschool/for a bath/bed/eating dinner" and so on.

He's never been a hitter or kicker, apart from when I'm trying to change his nappy, which can take 25 minutes. No interest whatsoever in the potty.
Wakes up at 6am every morning throwing a tantrum, screaming his head off.

If it gets worse I'm off to Australia.

I don't know exactly when my beautiful child turned into a stubborn, rude, argumentative, violent little monster - but it seems to have coincided pretty well with him turning 3... can I have my sweet little boy back now, please?

This thread had me in stitches this morning as my 2 month old is feeding. Oh how I suspect karma will bite me on the bum when DS is a threenager and calling me a poo poo head!

Hate to break it to you but my 7 year old son is showing remarkably proficient teenage strops. I fear for the future.

Seriously. We kind of breezed through the terrible twos. Plenty of acknowledging of feelings seemed to stop most tantrums before they started or solve them easily. Now he's nearly 3 and sometimes his behaviour is so dire I don't know what to do Plus he refuses to poo on the toilet/potty so it's kind of like that game where you don't want to be thrown the water bomb when it's going to explode (i.e. I hope it happens when he's at nursery or with DH so I don't have to clean it up..)