My mind, my patience, and everything else in between! I am at a loss with Bug lately. I fear the "terrible two's" monster has bitten my sweet, well behaved little princess early and turned her into a moody, screaming monster. I have always been so proud that whenever we have taken her out in public, to a restaurant or church we always got so many compliments on how well behaved she was. I felt proud, I guess you could say. It made me feel good that I had a child who knew how to compose herself.
Now.... now I find myself pulling my hair out in the middle of the grocery store and struggling internally with how to handle her. She has suddenly decided that if something is not going EXACTLY her way she wants it to, she screams. Top of her lungs, bloody murder screams. And the look in her eyes... well let's just say if looks could kill!
It started about two weeks ago when we were in the grocery store, Bugs favorite thing is to say hello to EVERY.SINGLE.PERSON we see, and not just once, but over and over again. Anyways, she said hi to this lady in the cereal isle and she didn't respond to Bug, so Bug tried again. "Helllllloooooo!" Still, no response. So, Bug decided to let out this horrible scream, I mean pure rage. Well of course, that got the lady's attention, and had me standing in the isle with my mouth hanging open and my cheeks turning bright red. I was horrified, she'd never acted like that before, I didn't even know how to respond for a second. And I think my momentary befuddlement as to how to react made her little brain see that her scream got mommys attention and the attention every one else who was around. I swear I saw those little gears turn in her head!
Now it's become a daily occurrence; I say no and she screams. Red faced, fists all balled up and pure anger in her eyes. I have tried telling her not to scream in my "stern mommy voice", I've tried time outs (I don't know if she even gets what that's all about yet... jury's out on that), I've physically picked her up and moved her to the couch and allowed her to get her anger out until she's ready to behave like a big girl. And NOTHING seems to be changing/helping/stopping it. (Maybe I need to be consistent with one punishment?? I don't know.) I'm lost. I feel like I spend all day, every day saying "no" to her.
It kills me, it is quite honestly... breaking me.
I hate feeling like all I say to her is "no, don't do that", "no, don't touch that", "no, don't feed that to the dog". I need help, I need advice. I need some other mommy's out there to tell me that I'm not alone and to offer up some suggestions. Isn't that what us mommy's are so famous for, offering up unsolicited advice about how to raise one anothers kids? I'm begging for it... give it up to me!!
ETA: FIY Bug is 20 months old, so she's not even two yet!
Now.... now I find myself pulling my hair out in the middle of the grocery store and struggling internally with how to handle her. She has suddenly decided that if something is not going EXACTLY her way she wants it to, she screams. Top of her lungs, bloody murder screams. And the look in her eyes... well let's just say if looks could kill!
It started about two weeks ago when we were in the grocery store, Bugs favorite thing is to say hello to EVERY.SINGLE.PERSON we see, and not just once, but over and over again. Anyways, she said hi to this lady in the cereal isle and she didn't respond to Bug, so Bug tried again. "Helllllloooooo!" Still, no response. So, Bug decided to let out this horrible scream, I mean pure rage. Well of course, that got the lady's attention, and had me standing in the isle with my mouth hanging open and my cheeks turning bright red. I was horrified, she'd never acted like that before, I didn't even know how to respond for a second. And I think my momentary befuddlement as to how to react made her little brain see that her scream got mommys attention and the attention every one else who was around. I swear I saw those little gears turn in her head!
Now it's become a daily occurrence; I say no and she screams. Red faced, fists all balled up and pure anger in her eyes. I have tried telling her not to scream in my "stern mommy voice", I've tried time outs (I don't know if she even gets what that's all about yet... jury's out on that), I've physically picked her up and moved her to the couch and allowed her to get her anger out until she's ready to behave like a big girl. And NOTHING seems to be changing/helping/stopping it. (Maybe I need to be consistent with one punishment?? I don't know.) I'm lost. I feel like I spend all day, every day saying "no" to her.
It kills me, it is quite honestly... breaking me.
I hate feeling like all I say to her is "no, don't do that", "no, don't touch that", "no, don't feed that to the dog". I need help, I need advice. I need some other mommy's out there to tell me that I'm not alone and to offer up some suggestions. Isn't that what us mommy's are so famous for, offering up unsolicited advice about how to raise one anothers kids? I'm begging for it... give it up to me!!
ETA: FIY Bug is 20 months old, so she's not even two yet!
While I don't have any experience with this, everything I've read says that when this phase starts, you should ignore it and show no reaction. Easier said than done when you're out in public, but definitely start ignoring it at home. As long as she knows it gets a rise out of you, she'll keep doing it.
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