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Advice w/ 3 year old son

NewlyWeds13NewlyWeds13 member
in Toddlers: 24 Months+

Our son is very spirited.    He is very loving and verbal and extremely smart.  He also pushes boundaries, constantly questions, and is very stubborn.

There are few things that my husband and I are at a loss for:

1) he awakes at 5:30 AM.  We have tried putting him to bed earlier, later, nap and no nap.  None make a difference. Whether he goes to bed at 7 or 8:30, takes a nap or not, he is awake at 5:15 to 5:30 AM.   This causes a lot of difficulty for our family.   He sleeps soundly until then, but just refuses to go back to sleep in the mornings.   Any suggestions? 

2) Power struggles.  Obviously you have to let 3 year olds assert their independence (which we do with things like his clothes or other choices that he can not hurt himself) however he will continue to do things like hit his sister with a toy (not hard, but almost to annoy us) even after we tell him no, then make him stand in corner, take away his favorite toy, etc.   We follow through on our punishments.   Since negative discipline was not working, we tried redirection, sticker charts (for days he follows directions, etc), posting simple house rules.   None of it works.  He says he does not want a sticker, that he does not want to follow our rules, and will not go to a timeout or corner (you have to phsycially restrain him for him to do it)and goes back to the bad behavior as soon as you let go.   He goes to preschool 3 days a week for 5 hours a day and the teachers claim he listens very well at school.   We need to find a way to get him to follow rules that allows all of us to go back to having fun together.    I know that many kids are definiant at this age, but this seems excessive.   It all started about 6 months ago and has not gotten any better since.   

 

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Re: Advice w/ 3 year old son

  • Grk_NatashaGrk_Natasha member
    I am dealing with the same (#2) with our 3-year-old. He is also very verbal and smart, sometimes I feel like he's TOO smart! I have come to understand he purposely tries to make his little sister cry because he's very jealous and nothing aside from separating them will help. I went and purchased some books from Amazon, one of them "How to talk to kids so kids will listen and listen so kids will talk" - got good reviews, hopefully it will help.
    I personally feel like his behavior has gotten way worse since starting preschool (2 days a week). He's more demanding, more stubborn, and seems like he wants to defy EVERYTHING, even things he used to love like soccer, story time at the library, even just getting dressed is a battle. Before preschool, he really was an angel! This breaks my heart, I hope it's just a phase because I really don't know how to deal with this....
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
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  • aglennaglenn member
    There is a book called, "Your Three-Year Old:  Friend or Foe?" that might be helpful (yes, that is the real title).  A lot of it is normal 3-year-old stuff but I have a super energetic, super spirited DD who sounds pretty much exactly like your son (except she still gets up during the night here and there, too, which is fun).  We have struggled through a lot of behavioral stuff since she hit 2.5 and there is no easy answer.  For us, the Positive Discipline books have also been a big help, along with just generally being calm and consistent.  If DD is acting out she gets sent to her room for quiet time until she is ready to calm down and be part of the family again.  She still has her moments but things are slowly improving.  Hang in there!
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  • erbearerbear member
    Welcome to the Throat-slitting threes. They are followed by the Fvcking Fours. It's a good time.

    Good news: he's perfectly normal for 3 :)
    "Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you've got about a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies. God damn it, you've got to be kind." - Kurt Vonnegut
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  • ladylisaltladylisalt member
    erbear said:
    Welcome to the Throat-slitting threes. They are followed by the Fvcking Fours. It's a good time.

    Good news: he's perfectly normal for 3 :)
    lol!
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  • BeanNutBeanNut member
    I don't have a three-year-old yet, but I wouldn't be able to handle 5-5:30 wake up everyday.  Can you buy him something like this and teach him to stay in his room and play until 6 or 6:30?


    Peanut 1.23.11 ~ Bean 9.06.12 ~ Little Boy 9.24.14
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