3 is crazy!

maggiesmom1

My daughter will be 3 in a couple of months and omg where did my sweet girl go? What happened to terrible 2s? We are in the most horrific 3s. She screams and cries every time something does not go her way and flips out over nothing. Ahhhh! I am sure some of you are feeling this too....just letting you know you are not alone!

aglenn

Yes, three was worse than two for my DD!  So much drama.  Four is a little better.  Sometimes.

ladylisalt

I am bracing myself as I think we are starting to approach this. It seems to be consistent with what I have heard from mom's. 3 is tough!

oliversmommy32912

Well this is fun to look forward to. Lol.

Leap08

I actually love 2 and don't understand where that term "the terrible 2s" came from. With DD1, 3 was really horrific. Terrible listening. Terrible attitude. Very emotional. And so frustrating for me. 4 has been a bit better.

ashiscute

My DD turned 3 in January.  So far 3 is much worse than 2.  She is much more dramatic and she hangs on to things longer.  Redirection is not so easy.  

fitmom82

I've also heard alot of people say 3 is worse than 2.  I found the terrible 2s started around 18 months, got a whole lot better at 2, she was a total joy at 3, but lately she's a mix of whiny temper tantrums and nasty teen-age, know-it-all attitude, she just turned 4.  

yeah.

2 was lovely for us. 3, the suck. 4 and 5? OMFG.

I'm holding out for 6....

ladylisalt

fredalina said:

Here is our experience. Terrible two's started at 11 months. Seriously. She has always been super independent and distraction and redirection did not work for her. Got better after 18 months when communication was easier and she understood that if she wanted to go outside and I said, "Let's put your shoes on first" that the world wasn't ending and I was actually trying to frigging give her what she frigging wanted! (Yes, I have strong feelings about it because that's what it was like.) Two itself was wonderful. She was generally pretty compliant, loving, helpful, fun. Three came in like a cyclone. Overnight the tone of voice and words got NASTY. If I said no to something and why, even in public, she would shriek, "Don't TALK to me!" She learned to lie to get what she wanted. She learned to sneak away and hide. I asked for help on these behaviors on a parenting forum and was told I was a terrible mother for using those negative words but I don't know how else to describe the behaviors. Case in point: The Cupcake Incident. There used to be an indoor playground here where you paid $7 or whatever for all day play, or you could pay $10/hr and drop your kid off. Plus they had birthday parties. One day my husband and I dropped her off and went to a matinee. We didn't have a sitter then so it was a rare date. It was a Saturday and there was a pirate themed birthday party that day, complete with bright blue cupcakes. Charlotte had a young man assigned to watch her, so she told him that she had to go potty, waited for his back to be turned (they had surveillance film that the owner pulled up), snuck out of the bathroom and into the party tent, under the picnic table with the cupcakes, to the very back and got 2 cupcakes from the very back where they wouldn't be as likely to be missed. Yeah, real considerate that one lol. She took the cupcakes back to the bathroom, again careful to make sure her young man was not watching, and presumably ate them. Well, time passes and the man is starting to get concerned. He asked the female owner to check on Charlotte. She walks in and sees Char covered practically head to foot in BLUE. She has blue in her hair, all over her face, on her clothes, even some on her shoes. "Charlotte," she says. "Why are you blue?" Charlotte, completely deadpan, says, "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not blue." The owner takes her to a mirror and Charlotte says, "See? I'm not blue." It's funny as hell now but at the time as you can imagine I was MORTIFIED. And scared to death these behaviors would continue. She would say she wanted Mac and Cheese for dinner and I would say no I have something in the freezer for tonight and she would get a stool, move it to the cabinet that holds the Mac and Cheese, and stand on it to get the Mac. With me there in the kitchen. She would just completely ignore what I said and even my physical presence to get what she wanted. And, again, the tone of voice was so bad. Slowly, slowly it got better. It seems to be her birthday that triggers the behaviors for her. Some kids it's more like the half birthday. When she turned 4, the behaviors spiked again, especially tone of voice and this time instead of doing something anyway, she would give me an ultimatum and threaten to do it anyway. She wanted ice cream one day, and the answer was no. "If you don't give me ice cream, I'll wait until you're asleep and take the car and get it myself." Which with her is a threat we could almost believe. But overall 4 has been worlds better than three, and nothing is as bad as 1 was for us. I look at other 1 year olds and I still feel jealous. Really? You can say a gentle no and offer your car keys and your kid happily plays with them? That's AMAZING.

Wow! I do sympathize for you and can tell, you are very aware of your child. I deal with parents that are in denial on a daily basis, so kuddos to you for admitting your DD was a nightmare at times. The cupcake story defiantly has its humor but that scares me too, as my son is younger and could do the same thing at some point. I always feel like girls are harder(from what I have observed/hear) and have my own DD on the way. I am bracing myself. This job is not easy! Thanks for sharing and you write with humor in a way that makes your experiences entertaining to read. Easy for me to say, you have had to live through them!

sunnyday016

Age 3 was way worse for my DD than age 2. She was such an easy baby & toddler, at 3 she was so emotional, tons of tantrums, defiant, etc. Age 4 and recently age 5 has been much better for her