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Parenting
Give me your best parenting techniques for a preschooler.
Mine is driving me insane. He's incredibly defiant and every last thing is a battle. He antagonizes his brother from the minute they wake up until he finally gives in to falling asleep at night. I find myself repeating everything I say over and over and over. I think the most frustrating thing is that he KNOWS the rules and boundaries and chooses to ignore them. Oh, and don't get me started on the whiiiiiiining.
I love him to pieces, but there are certainly days where I don't like him.
I'm so tired of crabbing at him all the time. I hate that bedtime is such a disaster all the time. I can't stand that I have that kid in public.
What works for you?
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Re: Give me your best parenting techniques for a preschooler.
I hear vinegar works really well.
Other than that, booze for mom. Well, that will need to wait a couple of months in your case!
I knew that was coming.
That's only effective for the backtalk and sass.
And I can't fecking WAIT for a margarita or 10. I'll pump and dump if need be. Or bust out some formula.
We're in the same boat. Lately what's been working is threatening to take away her absolute favorite thing (right now, her stuffed Rudolph). It took quite a few times of actually taking her favorite thing away, but now as soon as we threaten it, she straightens up. I tell her I'm going to count to three, and if she doesn't listen/stop by then, Rudolph's gone.
We have adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards harassing her sister. As soon as she kicks/hits/pulls/etc, she's in time out up in her room. It's only recently been a big issue, so it's still a little rough somedays, but I think it's starting to help.
Every morning, after nap and evening, I give her a big hug and ask her if she's going to be my good girl today/tomorrow. Sometimes just reminding her of that helps.
I have the female version of your son, only she is bad at home, and fine in public. We go out a lot!
I have had good luck with giving her a goal to "earn" a toy based on her behavior. I have her pick a larger toy and have her work toward it for 25 to 30 days to get it.
We take away/give TV.
We have a 0 tolerance for certain behaviors (hitting, screaming, ect). She has to go to her room.
Still, rudeness and the fits go on, sometimes for long time. I really think it is just a phase, and we just need to keep plodding along.
Sweet! Since we're both broke, we can make homemade margaritas at my house and indulge while my L teaches your L all his bad tricks!
I'd take a spatula to that @ss! And then I'd pour myself a cocktail!
Other than that, I got nothin'. I take things away: whatever his current favorite toy is that week, tv time, etc. Time out isn't that effective anymore. I just have to stay on him all.day.long but try not to be too hard on him since he is, afterall, 4 and is going to test boundaries. And he has picked up on some bad habits since starting school: calling people "poopoo head"s or other stupid names like that, or blocking the slide so that others can't access it. I have to watch him like a hawk and guide him verbally to make sure that he's not being a little sh!t on the playground. Other than keeping him busy and spending time separately with each kid I just choose my battles and correct, correct, correct him throughout the day. Then Daddy comes home and undoes it all. Then it's time to wrestle and play fight and call each other stupid names, etc. He doesn't seem to get that I'm trying to deter him from this type of behavior. UGH!