Terrible Twos?

welcome....the terrible twos last until they are 4-5 years old.....

I have a 3 and a 4 year old stuck in the 2 stage.

 

I don't know how long this has been going on, but my oldest did something similar. I was able to put a stop to it pretty quick by making his time out a chair facing the wall. If he wouldn't sit there, or screamed and cried while there, I sat on him till he got himself under control. Once he was under control, timeout was for two minutes.

 

Um, have fun? I vaguely remember the twos...and my youngest is only 4 now, so I guess that means its not as bad as it seems in the moment. Kind of like childbirth. I dont remember that being so bad either. Supposedly they shouldnt hear "no" but just be re-directed. I'm no tree-huggin hippy so my kids have heard NO since day one. I ignore them when they have tantrums, they figure out that they arent getting a response and quit.

 

oh yeah, and the other thing, never threaten punishment as in, "If you do that one more time, I'm going to..." Punishment needs to be prompt, even when it's inconvenient to you.

eta: the word punishment sounds so harsh...

 

Have you ever watched Super Nanny? If not you need to. She has great tips and practical solutions for misbehavior.

 

Although it's hard to do sometimes totally ignoring the temper tantrum always worked best for me with my own kids and now works with the grandkids ( two 2 years olds) that I babysit on a regular basis. At the first sign of a hissy fit turn around and walk out of the room or their sight. Usually if they don't have anyone to perform for it's no fun anymore. I really never had any trouble with them doing it in public because they found out at home it wasn't going to get them the results they wanted. One of them has fits for her folks in the store because she doesn't want to ride in the cart. She found out the first time she tried it with Grandma it was going to get her nowhere unlike with mom & dad who cave in to her crying. They think I'm lying when I tell them she doesn't do that with me!!

 

I feel for you. My two girls started the "terrible two's" at age one and didn't get over it until around the age of four. We had a 5 year period where we didn't go anywhere with them except daycare, preschool, and different parks and things where it was okay for them to be loud and boisterous.

The best advice I can give is to avoid situations that seem to be triggers. For us it was sit-down restaurants. Instead we would get take out and go eat at the park. The kids would play while my husband and I ate and enjoyed each other's company. WHen the girls wore themselves out, they would come eat.

Time out didn't work for us at first either. Then we started using their beds as the time out spot. They were allowed to sit with one toy or a book and have a little alone time. Then when they were able to calm down and behave, they could get up and join the rest of the family. This method worked wonders for us.