Hi....question about my niece

vik06

I currently watch my niece and nephew a lot because my SIL works crazy hours and I tend to have off when she needs to work day shifts. Well my niece is 2 1/2 and my nephew is 4. He goes to pre-school for 2 1/2 hours a day. My niece is currently not listen even a little she hits me if I tell her no and will scream and scream if I don't let her do something or when I tell her its time to go get her brother from school. I just don't know what to do because she isn't my child I know I can't really do much. My SIL and BIL will yell at her and stuff when they see if and put her in time out but nothing seems to work for this little girl. Her brother is great he for the most part listens to me gets ready for school and will try to help me out with making his breakfast and lunch. The little girl wasn't always this way its just in the past few months.

cornichon

I disagree that there isn't anything that you can do since she isn't your child. ?You are her caregiver and she needs to listen and respect you as much as she would her parents when she is with them. ?I would talk to your SIL about this and come up with a discipline strategy that you would both follow and be consistent with. ?That way, your niece will know what to expect and what the consequences are if she does not listen. ?If time outs don't work, trying taking toys or privileges ( tv time, story time etc)?

?

Good luck:)?

vik06

The one thing my SIL and I did agree on we now make her time out away from the living room were all the toys and tv are. She has to sit in the dining room where the tv can't be seen from.

bubu

It must be the age thing because we are going through the same thing with my daughter who is 2 1/2. It started a few months ago she was always very good child, very easy going and now everyday is a battle. It's like she just changed overnight and I don't recognize this kid.  We are at our wits end, she has started hitting again and she just flies into a rage about silly things. Last night she went bonkers over socks at 1am! She was asleep, she woke up because she was thirsty after we got her something to drink and tried to get her in bed she started crying about socks. We thought maybe she was too hot cause she was wearing the pj's with the footsies so we changed her into different pj's and put on socks and she fought with us tooth and nail as we tried to give her what we thought she wanted. We don't yell or spank her, we try time outs and the love and logic approach but it is hard to talk to someone who is screaming at the top of their lungs and is inconsolable. I had to chalk it up to terrible two's because I have no idea what else to do. I don't think it's anything you are doing wrong. Maybe you should talk to her parents about what kind of discipline methods you all would be comfortable with while you are watching her. If you do find anything that works please let me know cause I need some HELP. Good luck

JOEBunny

My DD is very similar.  I put her in time out for the hitting, which usually happens when she is tired or hungry.  The screaming, also happens more when she is tired or hungry, I let her scream for a bit, then will hold her, but that sometimes leads to more hitting, so I leave her alone in her room or in the family room, sometimes take her out for a walk.  Sounds like she may just have trouble with transitions.  I would also try to model the behavior you want her to have.  For example, she is mad that she has to stop playing and get in the car, so she screams and crys, so what I would like for her to do is, tell me she is mad and doesn't want to leave, so I can tell her that it is important to get her brother from school and it is ok to be mad, but she has to go anyway, so would she like to bring along a special toy or something. 

My DD will sometimes cry for upward of an hour, often for no known reason (hair clip comes out, wakes up, drops something).  Sometimes nothing works, I just leave her and go outside or to another room or vacuum (this drowns out her noise and gets something done!). 

There is a book called Parenting the spirited child or something like that, it also has a work book you can buy too.  I find it helpful for understanding where my DD is coming from.  

vik06

The funny thing is she'll just turn it off as fast as it started. The best example I can think of is it was time to go get her brother so I told her we needed to get her shoes and get ready to go get Pudge. She started screaming at me no and don't say that to me. Then she told me to go away. I continued to explain to her that we needed to go get Pudge because he was all done school and wanted to come home. She was still screaming so I put her jacket on and shoes I wiped her face and she refused to walk out of the house with me. I picked her up and she started hitting me. I put her in the car and she screamed louder. I drove the 5 minutes to school telling her we were getting Pudge. As soon as I parked in the school parking lot she goes time to get Pudge yay! Happy as could be.