Anonymous wrote:Pp who said it’s catering - no. She is getting into insane power struggles with a four-year-old, and she is losing. And she has no idea why these things are going wrong at home. An insane monster of a child does not come from somebody sitting down with them and problem-solving, it comes from having no idea what to expect in their environment and having people escalate and make it worse by doing things like spanking and imposing arbitrary consequences when they don’t know what the problem is.
Taking the time to calm down, get a head of the problems, they know they have right now, and keep things from escalating will always help. If a kid is hungry before dinner, and out of control and taking food, the answer is not to spank them. Give them a snack that includes things they would be eating in half an hour, anyway like carrot sticks, and reset.
Being compassionate, and working to understand what the issue is, does not mean that there are no boundaries or rules or limitations. It means that you start from a point of empathy and make sure that what your expectations are and your timing works for everyone. You don’t say well I don’t know what to do and I don’t like how he’s acting so I’m gonna punish him and not change any of the factors that are contributing to these big problems
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Op again. So give me an example. If he hits me or kicks me do I give him a time out? (For us time out means going in your room) sometimes he doesn’t care ither times he hangs on the door. Feel like we’ve tried this so many times and the behavior didn’t change. What is something I do in the moment?
By now you should have been reading 1, 2, 3 Magic instead you are procrastinating and finding excuses.
Do not hit mom or anyone. First warning. You will lose your fav toy.
Second warning as you see he is about to hit. You hit me again your “fav toy” is going to the garbage.
Third warning. Repeat. Then take away his toy while he watches, and let him see you throw it away in the garage trash. When he picks it up, from that trash, strap him in his car seat. Drive to public trash can, throw it away and drive off.
No yelling, no relenting, no negotiating. Toy gone. He will cry, you do not react nor are mad just calm.
This worked for us^^^ with similar tantrums.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Op again. So give me an example. If he hits me or kicks me do I give him a time out? (For us time out means going in your room) sometimes he doesn’t care ither times he hangs on the door. Feel like we’ve tried this so many times and the behavior didn’t change. What is something I do in the moment?
By now you should have been reading 1, 2, 3 Magic instead you are procrastinating and finding excuses.
Do not hit mom or anyone. First warning. You will lose your fav toy.
Second warning as you see he is about to hit. You hit me again your “fav toy” is going to the garbage.
Third warning. Repeat. Then take away his toy while he watches, and let him see you throw it away in the garage trash. When he picks it up, from that trash, strap him in his car seat. Drive to public trash can, throw it away and drive off.
No yelling, no relenting, no negotiating. Toy gone. He will cry, you do not react nor are mad just calm.
Anonymous wrote:Op again. So give me an example. If he hits me or kicks me do I give him a time out? (For us time out means going in your room) sometimes he doesn’t care ither times he hangs on the door. Feel like we’ve tried this so many times and the behavior didn’t change. What is something I do in the moment?
Anonymous wrote:I would love to help you with this!
1. Your kid has been alive for only 4 years and has no control over his circumstances.
2. He doesn’t owe you anything, and can’t communicate complex feelings. Think about how you feel when things are out of control, you are hungry and tired. You feel this way about your child!
3. You can change what you do, and the wonderful thing about kids is he will change in response.
So…..read two books: how to talk so your little kid will listen, and then the explosive Child.
While reading those sit your kid down and tell them you think they are trying really hard but the family routine isn’t working and you want them to help fix it.
Listen to them! Ask them questions - is there a time when they would like to get dressed? Take a bath?
Have a snack?
Then redo some timing - try to offer the things that help proactively instead of in defeat. - if he is grabbing food before dinner put on a show in a space he likes - could be at the table with a laptop, or on the couch - and give him a pre dinner snack of carrot sticks, apples, frozen peas, celery, really whatever veggies/fruits he likes. If he loves cheese cut up some slices. Ypu pick what will add or replace a piece of his dinner. And then you can praise him for hanging calmly while you fix dinner. When you sit down to eat with him make it short and sweet.
And dressing- maybe it will be easier to take a fun bath while you read a book to him and then put school clothes on at night.
It’s not traditional, but lots of kids can do that in the evening but not in the morning. If he’s wrinkles so what? If he can be calm and happy you are so successful!
Again he is 4 - the most important thing you can teach him is to be kind and problem solve, and to keep trying new things.
Anonymous wrote:This will get a bunch of “oh no, you should never do that!!” but we spanked for direct defiance like this.