Reply to Toddler throwing tantrums over books at bedtime

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Sounds like you have a power struggle on your hands! Also not helped by the fact that he's tired, but at the same time would rather stay up and hang with you than be put to bed and this is the best way he figured out to accomplish that.

As the mom of a very strong-willed preschooler, here's what I'd do:

First, get some new books from the library in case he's a little bored of his current books. Then, when he's excited about new books, set aside a time earlier in the day and say "honey tonight we are going to read 3 (or whatever) of these books. Let's pick them out now and then those will be the ones we read for bedtime. We won't choose any other ones at bedtime, so let's make sure these are the 3 we want." Take those 3 books and put them next to where you read at bedtime and put all the other books away.

When bedtime comes around, start reading. If he protests, say "It sounds like you don't want to read this book, but there are only 2 more books left. If we don't want to read any of them, then reading time will be over." Go through the next two books and if he doesn't want them, then that's it for books. You can be super chill about it like, "oh no! Seems like we didn't want to read any of our books tonight. Maybe tomorrow we can pick out some other ones we'd rather read." Then take him to bed. He'll probably throw a screaming fit if he's anything like my kid, but you gotta power through it, and just be compassionate and tell him tomorrow he can choose other books to read. 
[/quote]

I think you're making this even harder than it already is.[/quote]

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