I am in the depths of parenting despair.
I am battling daily with my three year old who continues to push ALL of my buttons. And when I say battling, it is a real pushing, pulling, sending me to the extremes of my limits.
I am doing A LOT of deep breathing and counting. BELIEVE ME!
You ask him to do something, he yells "No!"
You ask him not to do something specific and you find him doing it.
He is on the prowl for mischief at every opportunity.
We have growled till hoarse in the throat, sent him to his room for time out, and removed privileges. To no avail.
I even asked him "WHY". Actually it was almost a pleading request for some sort of logical answer.
"Because I like it" is his honest answer.
But he doesn't like the resulting punishments, the deliberate removal of my attention, or the harsh voice I use.
And my God - if anyone could be compared to an EverReady Battery it is my son. He literally keeps going and going and going.
It's just a phase I reassure myself. Once he gets to four or so he will calm down and find his groove. He is overwhelmed with his feelings, his abundance of energy, the discoveries of the world around him. His sister also went through a "difficult patch" around the age of three. Terrible Two, in my opinion, is a myth. It is definitely the Trying Threes.
The thing is ... he is often very eager to please and loves to do things with you. But there are times that he needs to understand that he alone, needs to pick up some toys when he throws them deliberately around the room. And he is a very loving boy when he is not pinching.
We use encouragement and reward where we can, but haven't had consistent success. We often try to turn tasks into games to make them more appealing. Sometimes it works other times not so well.
He loves to study things to see how they work and asks very thoughtful, intelligent questions. My hope is that he is super intelligent. The reality could be that he is an energetic, adventurous boy.
Really, would either be so bad. Of course not, but will I make it through this "phase" to see what he becomes? Will our house survive the torment? Will his sister continue to scream "I hate him, and I didn't want a brother"? I ponder these questions as I take my daily medication.
Stay tuned for the next exciting episode.
I am battling daily with my three year old who continues to push ALL of my buttons. And when I say battling, it is a real pushing, pulling, sending me to the extremes of my limits.
You ask him to do something, he yells "No!"
You ask him not to do something specific and you find him doing it.
He is on the prowl for mischief at every opportunity.
We have growled till hoarse in the throat, sent him to his room for time out, and removed privileges. To no avail.
I even asked him "WHY". Actually it was almost a pleading request for some sort of logical answer.
"Because I like it" is his honest answer.
But he doesn't like the resulting punishments, the deliberate removal of my attention, or the harsh voice I use.
And my God - if anyone could be compared to an EverReady Battery it is my son. He literally keeps going and going and going.
It's just a phase I reassure myself. Once he gets to four or so he will calm down and find his groove. He is overwhelmed with his feelings, his abundance of energy, the discoveries of the world around him. His sister also went through a "difficult patch" around the age of three. Terrible Two, in my opinion, is a myth. It is definitely the Trying Threes.
The thing is ... he is often very eager to please and loves to do things with you. But there are times that he needs to understand that he alone, needs to pick up some toys when he throws them deliberately around the room. And he is a very loving boy when he is not pinching.
We use encouragement and reward where we can, but haven't had consistent success. We often try to turn tasks into games to make them more appealing. Sometimes it works other times not so well.
He loves to study things to see how they work and asks very thoughtful, intelligent questions. My hope is that he is super intelligent. The reality could be that he is an energetic, adventurous boy.
Really, would either be so bad. Of course not, but will I make it through this "phase" to see what he becomes? Will our house survive the torment? Will his sister continue to scream "I hate him, and I didn't want a brother"? I ponder these questions as I take my daily medication.
Stay tuned for the next exciting episode.
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My 3 year old has been such a challenge! He turns 4 this week and I'm hoping for a much better year! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment at My 3 Little Birds : )
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