So tell me about 3 year old boys and how to survive them.....

[WhatFreshHellIsThis]

....DS1 just turned three a few months ago. We had the terrible twos pretty much sorted, and now suddenly all our techniques are out of the window! Added to which DS2 is 13 weeks, so we probably have some adjustment to new sibling stuff going on.

So suddenly we have:

• kicking, fighting, playing games of killing etc (this I can cope with)
• complete disobedience and naughtiness rather than just toddler waywardness
• no fear of the naughty step
• sulking and lying around
• the whinging, god, the whinging

Any tips? tales of survival? I can't decide if we're too soft, too strict, too inconsistent, not tough enough, not nice enough, too obsessed with DS2, not paying DS1 enough attention, etc etc

Well this makes me feel sooooo much better - DS 3.4 and I was beginning to think that I was the only one going through this (friend's children seem to be going through perfect phases!)
The whining - ARGHH!!! and the constant seeming not to hear when you ask them to do something they don't want to do.... and the sloooowwwww way they then do those things. I do sometimes wander around repeating to myself "it's a phase, it's a phase, [grit teeth]... please God it's a phase and therefore it wil pass...It WILL PASS...it will!"
I have started to look forward to Wednesdays so much - nursery days - what bliss!

But then I have the guilt complex - am I wishing my child's early days away?? Is it something I have done? not done? should be doing differently??? ARGHH!
I feel like if someone could tell me when it will pass it would be easier (although if they said in 5 years then I might be looking for the nearest residential nursery)

I agree that it's a great thread with some great advice. My ds1 turned 3 a couple of weeks ago and some issues are becoming a right battle - especially with having a baby to deal with aswell. And I so agree about the whinging!

oh my god the whining! I too tell him I can't understand him. Also I sometime mimic his whining, which make him laugh.

I have also instilled an unhealthy level of competition in him in order to get him to do things (who is going to be the winner?).

I started to threaten to count to 3 and give a consequencew if he didn't do as he was told. Now I never have to give a consequence and often don't even get to 2 .

What I find hardest is the sudden recognition of gender. He is constantly telling me that girl's can't do things (football, running etc).

40 years of feminism down the drain

terrible grammar - am bf ds2 as I type and brain has gone to mush.

oh yes, we get that too...'you don't have a willy mummy do you? I've got a willy, Daddy's got a willy, DS2's got a willy, you're the only one who hasn't got a willy'....

This thread is fab.

For me the main things are the whinging and the not listening. The not listening really does drive me insane.

He's also started getting out of bed regularly, which is very frustrating.

The todger obsession just makes me laugh .

We've instigated a sticker chart, where 5 stickers means he can choose a toy out of a lucky dip bag. It's working reasonably well.

I like some of the ideas here though.