My 3 Year Old Is Driving Me Nuts!! HELP!!

I took a Love and Logic class when my kids were this age. It changed our whole world and really worked. You should look up their website and find out where the classes are being offered locally. Their strategies really work and it's always nice to know that ALL parents go through these days with their kids. When you go to the classes (usually once a week for 5 weeks) you sit with other parents who literally "feel your pain"! Good luck, I know it is tough but these things tend to come just for a season....then it's something else we have to deal with. Constant curves....deal with them as they come up and you'll do fine.

Hope this helps!
M.

Take a look at his diet - many kids (mine included) react to artificial colors, flavor, preservatives, etc. You can find healthy replacements for most of the "junk" type foods kids like (i.e., fruit snacks, etc.), keeping in mind that almost all processed foods have this stuff in it (e.g., yellow dyes in Kraft Mac 'n cheese). Also, he could well be allergic or intolerant to wheat (gluten) or dairy - those are the top allergies. I will note that yelling, screaming and hitting are really separate issues from having a child that is headstrong or determined. If the latter was the only problem, I'd recommend the book "Raising your Spirited Child" - you might need that later, but I'd put my money on him having reactions to foods. What you can do to figure this out on your own (and save alot of $s) is to keep a food diary and behavior during a meal (some reactions are fairly quick) and after a meal (30 minutes, a few hours, and up to 3 days for some reactions). If you first remove all the artifical stuff, then you can try experimenting to look for a reaction - for example, my son bought a red gatorade at school one afternoon - he (my strong willed son) decided he would drink it with dinner. In a 15 minute period, he went from being calm and sweet to being a monster - violent, etc.
Also, many, many kids are low in B vitamins, iron and magnesium - there are excellent supplements (again no artificial colors or dyes, preservatives, etc.).

If you can't figure it out on your own, I recommend Dr. M. Ann Block: www.blockcenter.com - they can get to the root of it.

I think it's just being 3 that's the problem. They're testing their world and everything in it. When mine was that age, we did spankings, time-outs, sending to room, etc. NOTHING worked except consistency. If you stick to your guns, and hang in there, he'll eventually get it. Pray for patience. lol!

My almost 3 year old started driving me crazy recently! Turns out she was bored! She just recently started Mothers Day out and has changed tremendously!! Does he go to daycare or MDO? Involved in a playgroup? Try to keep him busy, it helps! Also, it always seemed worse when she was overtired

My son is three and a half and started some of these same things right before he was three. We discovered it was due to the artificial colors, flavors, etc in his diet. We already had food allergies to most gluten, so that wasn't a problem for us. It could be for you. However, after we got all the artificials out of the house, we got our delightful three year old back.

By no means is he perfect. He's still three and rambunctious! The headstrong, aggressiveness is gone. He still likes things his way (who doesn't?), but he can take no for an answer so much better now.

We had our first test of the effectiveness of the diet last weekend. We were at a friend's house and they gave him bottled lemonade. Hello, yellow dye. Our weekend was a return to the old days. He literally could not slow down for two whole days. Only today are we getting back to normal.