So how do you deal with 'back chat' from a 3yo ?

[99redballoons]

Ds is 3.5 and has become soooo cheeky with his back chat that I don't know whether to reprimand (what I've been doing) or ignore him during these moments. He says things like 'you naughty little girl' (to me) and 'I want to make you die' and 'I'll put you in your room' etc. The usual stuff you'd expect from a 3yo, but it's nearly all the time atm. I try not to get drawn into it, but do say something like 'that's not a very nice thing to say' or whatever, but I'm sure I should be ignoring this. But how do you ignore it when you feel you should let them know it's not something nice?? I'm very confused on how to approach this.

(I know the examples I've given may seem quite lame, but in the heat of it he says things with such meaning (in his little way) that you really see the daggers coming from his eyes!)

Some more really good suggestions And again it's nice to know it's not just your child

Thx to those who suggested about being fair to the younger one too. I do try to do that, but may make more of a point of it in future. 2/3 of the way through the week now with my new approach and to be honest it's not really making that much difference (one warning and then time out in bedroom). I think the back-chat is a little less, but still getting it about 10 times a day. May try (nxt wk) the quiet/calm remark that it isn't nice and then withdraw attention for 5 mins (or whatever) until behaviour has been restored and apology made. I think we've hit the stage where it's so easy to say sorry as he's said it so much lately. Will ponder on that one.

Thx all and hope things are improving at your ends too!

Thanks sah, will definitely try some of those and you're so right about different children as dd1 is generally much easier going. Had similar experience with dd2's friend around so will definitely try out your suggestion, thank you!!