I don't think my kids are perfect. Far from it. For a long while, I thought Girl Terror was one of the better behaved kids I'd seen, and I didn't think I was being biased. She was polite, friendly, and caring. She said "sorry" appropriately. She seemed to sincerely want to make us happy and proud. Then she turned three. The inner demons took over, and now I live with a snotty kid who has the attitude of a teen. But she's THREE!!!
If we ask her to do something, she either ignores us, asks why, or says "no". We have to mention time-out before any action occurs, and even then she is screaming and stomping around. If I ask her to stop doing something irritating (like banging on the table with her hand at supper) she continues. After I ask her again, she will push to see just what banging means. Is lightly tapping the table with her hand still banging? Is pretending to hit the table not permitted? Where exactly is the line?
When she's feeling particularly ornery, and I try to talk to her, she will close her eyes and turn her head away. Brave girl, that one. That attitude goes nowhere with me. It puts her right into time-out.
I know that toddlers are a special breed. I'm sure that her teenage years will be far worse than anything I can imagine. But if she continues to sit on her brother's toys, grab stuff away from him, and run and hide when she knows I'm coming to put her in time-out, or if she doesn't stop screaming at the top of her lungs and kicking the wall in the time-out, I won't make it to her thirteenth birthday. I will be locked up in my own special time-out cell, kicking and screaming.
9 comments:
She's only in training for being a teenager!!!! Ooops, sorry, that's not what you wanted to hear was it?
Hang in there. It REALLY does get better.All of a sudden they become real people, and you can have real conversations with them!! And although the time seems to take forever, it really is the blink of an eye.
Hey! How did you find my three year old and write about her? I'm totally living your pain.
My son skipped the terrible two and launched with both feet right into the Terrorizing Threes.
I now say, and mean with all of my heart, that if he was born first, the other two wouldn't of happened.
In his present state, he is the poster child for birthcontrol.
Heh..... I was thinking your description sounded very much like my 13yo daughter!
Hello, Michele sent me!
My "threes" as you describe them, are starting to happen in the "fours." Aren't we having fun?
Yeah no one tells you the those "terrible twos" last til there four!! I've got two weeks left and I"m right there with ya! I'll bring the whine...oops! I mean wine! ;0)
What you do, Mom, is farm her out to the worst babysitter in the world. After she has had a taste of that, the threat of going back might work wonders at home.
Or, you could just feed her to the wolves. That shuts most kids up.
Just like my boy!
He's got his good days and bad days but luckily most of the time his good days are outnumbering the bad. He only has 17 days left of being 3. Sigh...
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