How do you handle the whining?

CandKmomma

I'm seriously about to shoot myself in the head.  DS has become SO whiny over everything....DD, the dog, wanting something....you name it he is whining about it.  I tell him I can't understand him when he talks like that but it is getting worse.  HELP!  Thanks!

melisa7901

My DD is two months older than your DS and I'm in the same boat.  The whining is like fingernails on a blackboard.  I've found that modeling how a big girl talks and making her repeat it after she whines has helped a little and reminding her to use her big girl voice.  Good luck, hopefully it doesn't last long!

ArcticFox

Your DS may be a little young.. my DD is 4.5 and when she gets whiny, I tell her she can stop, or go to her room.  That people don't like to hear whining, and when she is ready to use her big girl voice and speak in a normal voice, she can come out.

RoxBride

"I'll talk to you about what you want when you can use nice words. No whining."

And I would compeltely ignore her until she used nice words.

Maybe the first couple of times I needed to give her examples of nice words, like if she was whining "I wannnnnnnnnaaaa go outside" I'd suggest "I want to go outside please".

Now, on the rare occassions she whines, I just say "nice words" and she stops, right away.

ecoppins

I did what the pp did, with the exception that I use "tone" vs "words" because dd asked what word it was that isn't nice or something like that and I realized I needed to be more specific. 

She would say in that horrible whinny tone "I wanted the bunny bowl!" and I would say in a super nice up beat polite tone I wanted her to model "How do we ask nicely?" or "Why don't you try, 'May I have the bunny bowl please?"

Especially when young, it is in part frustration over being able to deal with the emotions of want and the immediacy of the need that leads from whining to break down for dd. I would often give her a hug or put a gentle hand on her and ask her to take a deep breath and try again. 

It was a lot of repetition and reinforcement of the above, but as with so much consistency is key. 

KL777

I don't handle it well at all.  IT DRIVES ME BUGGY!