3 year old boy does not listen. Today I completely lost it... 😓

knottied34962fafb2cba9b

I feel like a horrible mom. I currently have a 3 year old boy, a 16 month old girl ((who is seriously a SAINT)) and currently 13 weeks pregnant. My hormones are all over the place and I just have a short fuse when it comes to my 3 year old. He just does NOT listen. He does things that he knows he shouldn't to get attention like pushing his little sister down when mad, hitting or pushing the dogs, throwing toys. Etc. Today he got so mad because we made a marble/ball run tower and the balls kept getting stuck and he took the tower and threw it and spit on it and than randomly took a toy and hit our dog on the head super hard for no reason. I lost it on him and smacked him😓 I feel terrible but I'm frustrated with him. I understand they can't control their anger/emotions but I feel like he's 3 now he should know that's its WRONG to hit our dog he's been doing it since like 18 months. I feel like I need to put him in behavioral therapy or something but my husband thinks he's just a typical 3 year old. 

nlnicole

You are NOT a bad mom.  We all lose our cool and are human.  You can also always model your humanness to your son by apologizing and telling him how you feel.  “I got really angry when this happened.  It’s okay to feel that way, but I could have done xxxxx differently. I am working on that. Next time I will try…”.  

It will honestly make you feel better and it models what we want to see our children do.  If you need to, afterward, have a calm conversation about what he can do differently next time with whatever upset you.  

My son has a hard time treating our dog well, too.  His consequences are doing something nice for the dog.  Filling his bowl, picking up the dog toys, etc. We talk about caring for pets and how they have feelings too.   I also have gotten some books from the library about being nice to your animals and those are helpful.  

Last, I would like to suggest a book for you if you’re into parenting books.  “No-Drama Discipline” changed my parenting game and helped me learn to react differently and teach my son lessons rather than punish. I got this book after I smacked my toddler when he smacked me. I listened to it as Audio and it was so helpful.  

You are a good mother. Your son loves you, and he is probably a very normal 3 year old.  Another book titled “It’s not you- Toddlers are Assholes” can reaffirm that for you.