Screaming - Hudson,FL

3 is almost always worse than 2's.

I'm in college classes for early childhood education and have found that we should'nt ignore children. Address the issue in a firm, but loving way. To them, their "issue of the moment" is valid and we should address it... as someone said here, REDIRECT. They hardly ever realize that they've been "tricked".

You can also call coordinated childcare and ask for discipline advice from their experts (licensing specialist) ###-###-####
Good luck!

Hi J.,

My niece just turned 4 but my sister always said terrible 2 is nothing compared to 3. The one thing that really worked for a friend of mine is when her daughter threw fits she would stay calm and say this is your 1st warning if you don't stop we will not go do this or go here...if she didn't stop mom wouldn't take her eventually her daughter stopped after the 1st warning because she knew mom was serious. She also placed her daughter in her room till she calmed down as a time out then explained everything to her when she was calm. I hope this helps. Good luck :0)

HI J.,

Yeah, it's normal, it's his way of showing anger! I too have a 3 year old boy who has gone from his terrible 2's to horrible 3's...same scenario...tantrums at 18 months on up....and we've done the whole time-out thing in the bedroom (which has worked well)...but now I am trying to cut him off before he starts and it seems to be working. I have found when I quickly redirect him and many times get him laughing, he forgets all about the issue. It takes some practice, but I have an arsenal of ideas available at a split second to use....i.e. My son hates washing his hands after potty time because he's eager to go back to what he was doing and ultimately throws a fit...so I've made a game out of it. I wash my hands with him under the same water and make it a race. Redirecting works great. Good luck!

HI there J.

I have two kids and I have found that the terribles are NOTHING compared to the terrorizing threes....I have a 3 yo daughter who does the same thing. The one thing that I do with her is pick her up and move her to her room, sit her on her bed and walk away after about 5 minutes she will calm down and ask if she can come out, when she does I explain to her how badly her behavior was and she will apologize. I think that when they start hitting you never want to hit back...I think that confuses them. I hope that this helps, its hard I know....but I would say that yes, it is another stage that he is going through. Good luck!!

Hi J.,
I'm a therapist and a sole parent of two boys 3 and 5 (my husband died just before our 3yr old was born). Managing them on my own is definitely a challenge sometimes. My 5 yr old has never given me any trouble, my 3 yr old is a little bit mischievous and definitely more of strong personality. My suggestion to you is to be VERY consistent with whatever punishment you give him. You can't ignore it, that works good at a younger age, but now you must correct him so he knows it's not a positive behavior and each and every time he does it, he will have earned his consequence...whatever you choose it to be. And the consequences have to change as they change, when he sees that you're taking away something he likes or whatever you choose, he'll get the idea that it's never a good thing to do. It takes patience, but you'll get it and then so will he. He's probably a little jealous of your daughter getting older too..so be sensitive to that too, he's at a tough age. Good luck!!
D.