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Please help - How do I get him to listen?!?!!

npeacocknpeacock
in Parenting

DS is SO bad at listening. He is almost 4. For example, when we were outside last night, he just ran into the street, and both DH and I yelled for him to stop, but he kept going. He wasn't even chasing after anything. Just running. When we caught up with him, we explained that it's for his safety that he stop, and explained that cars can't always see him, etc. He just didn't seem to care.

It's this way with a lot of things. We tell him not to do something, he does it anyway. And if we even try to discipline him, he bursts into tears. We are at our wit's end here. Any suggestions? Books? Anything? HELP!

(If you can't tell, last night's run into the street really shook me up.)

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Re: Please help - How do I get him to listen?!?!!

  • Nik842Nik842

    My almost 4 year old does the same thing. What I've found that helps is drawing the line with him between things that I'm flexible with - I say no to dessert, he says he wants it, I change my mind and he gets dessert- AND things that are totally unacceptable and result in immediate punishment - when DS runs away from me on the sidewalk, he has to walk for the next 5 minutes with his hand on the stroller which he hates!

    By giving in to him more often, I think he feels like he has a lot more control over his life and is more willing to give in to me when its important.  Basically, by picking my battles, he has begun to recognize that when I do say no, I mean it! 

    I would keep the discipline really simple though - yelling at my DS always ends in tears too.  Now, I just approach him really calmly, I act sad and say something like, Oh well, you ran away from me again. Now, as a consequence, you need to walk right next to me and DD in the stroller for 5 minutes.  No more walking alone like a big boy.

    He's definitely gotten better about this and I'm a lot more relaxed about the other things that used to be a battle between us.

     Hope this helps... just know that its normal and you're not the only one out there with a crazy preschooler!

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