My 3 year old Is overly dramatic

[Dreamystorm]

okay my 3 year old daughter is very over dramatic and I don’t know what to do like for instance, she will put on clothes and I will say that’s cute but do you wanna put on something warmer and she will have a full-blown meltdown and when she’s doing something she’s not supposed to do and something falls or breaks or spills and I’ll come up to her and I’ll tell her this is why I told you not to do that and then she will start acting crazy and screaming don’t whoop me and running away even though she does not get whoopings at all. I have popped her previously before over something that she has done every time I try to get on to her or correct she screams and runs saying that I’m going to whoop her and I don’t understand why because she does not get whoopings and when I do try to put her in time out for something she did wrong she screams and cries and acts like something is killing her or when it’s time take a nap, she will literally cry and scream like bloody murder and I don’t know what to do or how to fix it even when it’s bedtime and I’m trying to get her to go to sleep on her own she screams and cries so bad that it breaks my heart, and I can’t do it. I have to lay down with her cause I feel like I’m torturing her if I don’t can someone please help.

What does ‘I’ve popped her’ mean?

Bloody hell woman!.
She is THREE years old!!!
Get a grip on yourself.
Your daughter is three years old.. You are a grown adult.

Do you threaten to 'whoop' her? Even if you don't do it.

She's learnt that from somewhere. Running away asking not to be hit (I assume that's what whoop means?) isn't something a child does if they've never been hit/threatened with it.

Well you pop her which means you hit her. She's scared.

I assume OP is American. From reading other things a "pop" is still hitting your child, although not as hard as a "whoop". Which makes it alright apparently 🙄

Sounds normal for three!!!!
Keep firm boundaries, lots of count downs, clear tasks, lots of activities together.

Please.stop hitting a three year old. Sounds normal for her age, mine was the same but I never thought to use physical force, ever!

Sounds pretty standard for a three year old. Mine is the same. Except she has no fear of being hit, you may want to check no one is doing that to her because that’s the only part that seems unusual to me.

im not going to say do gentle parenting but I’ve found that responding to mine in a very even, calm tone as though she’s just talking to me normally calms her down very quickly and de-escalates the situation. Kids will eventually match your energy. And it helps them if you show that you are clearly in control and calm, it makes them feel more secure. Three year olds are always going to be “dramatic”, just show her by example how to be calm.

No its not cute, and i hope for her sake you dont hit her, she needs to learn from you how to behave so act towards her the you want her to act towards everyone else, and all this being considered normal at 3 is why teachers have to deal with behaviour issues at school instead what they are meant to be teaching

How strange, that by hitting your child as a means of discipline, you’ve emotionally scarred her and made her terrified of being told off in case you decide to hurt her again. Who’d have thought?!

I hope the op is going to come back and explain exactly what "pop" and "whoop" mean in this context. I'm only familiar with 'whoop' as a joyful cry or an intake of breath (as in whooping cough) and had to reread the op a few times to try and make sense of it.

3 year olds are dramatic. Their emotions are very intense. The behaviour you describe sounds normal for that stage of development.

If pop and whoop mean hit, as pp have inferred, then hitting your toddler is bound to make her think that you will hit her again. Hitting a 3 year old is cruel and unnecessary.

She is 3. They have very big emotions. You need to help her manage them, by staying calm yourself and by teaching her what to do. When mine overreact, I take a few deep breaths and encourage them to join in, 1 2 3. It keeps me calm and usually helps them too. Ioften give them a really tight hug too to calm them.

Then I explain that I can't help when they're screaming and tell them that if they don't want to do something, it's easier to say no thanks. But that sometimes things just need to be done.

For naps/ bedtime, get them calm and settled, then leave if you can and time how long you're gone. I often find after 2 minutes they settle but it feels like forever. But they're small, they might just need you there for a bit longer. Or see it as a time when they get some focused attention.

And please don't hit your child ever again or let anyone else. It's unnecessary and abuse. There's a reason it's illegal a lot of places.

Why are people telling OP not to woop her whatever that is when she clearly says she doesn’t .

Because she says she has 'popped' her in the past and both words imply physical punishment by hitting (I think pop is basically a cuff round the ear and a wooping is a smack on the bum).

So she has previously shown her daughter that doing something wrong might get her hit.

Like I popped her on her butt not hard but just to get her attention and this is was when she was in diapers no skin to skin contact just me popping her diaper if your not going to give me advice

I don’t whoop her I clearly said that I popped her diaper not hard just to get her attention no skin to skin contact

Because a three year old doesn't run away saying 'don't Whoop me' if she hasn't been 'whooped' or threatened with it or something similar (the OP reports she has been 'popped').

Do your children run away from you asking not to be hit?

To a 3 year old there is no difference between the threat of popping or whooping.

1. Don't hit your child. I'm not familiar with the euphemism "pop", but from the context it's still smacking.

2. Toddlers ARE dramatic. It's their M.O.

You did say that clearly but it's equally clear that plenty of people don't have a clue what popping and whooping mean in this context and what the difference is between them.

Your child is scared of being hit. I don’t think her reactions are ‘dramatic’ in that context. ‘Popped’ is not a familiar word so it’s not clear how hard she’s been hit, or if her fear of being hit is realistic, but it sounds like a fear so you just need to deal with her fear instead of dismissing it as ‘drama’.

So, you hit her?

She’s screaming not to hit her because you hit her before - it’s that simple. She’s scared of you.