OMG, where are the aliens that have abducted my child and left me with this screaming thing???
Seriously, it's not as though she was such an angel before; after all, she is 4 1/2 and this is a tough age. But the past two days have been hellish. They start out fine, and then some little thing happens and she goes all nuts on me.
Yesterday it was because she wouldn't stop climbing up a spiral slide at the park, something I have made a rule about, and I used 1-2-3 to give her a chance to get down or leave the park, and she chose not to get down. So I said, "Let's go," and she screamed and took off running. Since it was all fenced in I chose not to chase her, and she came back (what's the point if Mommy isn't chasing her, right?), and then kept screaming at me that I was a bad mommy. I had to CARRY her to the car. Now I don't usually use arbitrary punishment, but she lost her afternoon video for the running and screaming. It was just too much.
Tonight she started screaming at me after dinner, doesn't even matter why, but it blows my mind how this child will scream at us when we work so hard not to raise our voices to her. And after I ask her several times to stop screaming, or say, "When you are ready to speak calmly to me, I will listen," or use any other positive tactic, she will keep screaming, and the past two nights I just started screaming back. It was as though my "mommy hat" came off and I was just me, and damn it, I am just sick of being screamed at! ESPECIALLY by my four-year-old!
In addition to this type of thing, she's also breaking rules left and right and using the absolute worst judgment I've ever seen. Last week I discovered that she had been squeezing out a bit of toothpaste and eating it before applying some to her brush and brushing, and I told her how that is unhealthy (we use fluoride toothpaste), and even showed her pictures of fluorosis online to get my point across. It seemed to make an impact, but tonight I caught her doing it again! Am I expecting too much from her? She's very bright and verbally precocious, so sometimes I'm not sure if she's just acting her age and I don't realize it. Of course, the toothpaste is now off limits, and dh or I will have to put it on her brush for her. We used to let her brush and then we would "finish" for her, so we weren't always in the room at the beginning.
I don't know what is causing this! Dh is traveling this week, but he travels for work all the time and she has never acted this way. She eats fine, she gets enough sleep...we are on a break between camp and school so she's with me all day...maybe that's it. But I feel like I'm trying so hard to handle this in a good way and I succeed all day long, and then she just delivers that final straw. Help!!! Sorry this is so long, but I needed to vent!
Seriously, it's not as though she was such an angel before; after all, she is 4 1/2 and this is a tough age. But the past two days have been hellish. They start out fine, and then some little thing happens and she goes all nuts on me.
Yesterday it was because she wouldn't stop climbing up a spiral slide at the park, something I have made a rule about, and I used 1-2-3 to give her a chance to get down or leave the park, and she chose not to get down. So I said, "Let's go," and she screamed and took off running. Since it was all fenced in I chose not to chase her, and she came back (what's the point if Mommy isn't chasing her, right?), and then kept screaming at me that I was a bad mommy. I had to CARRY her to the car. Now I don't usually use arbitrary punishment, but she lost her afternoon video for the running and screaming. It was just too much.
Tonight she started screaming at me after dinner, doesn't even matter why, but it blows my mind how this child will scream at us when we work so hard not to raise our voices to her. And after I ask her several times to stop screaming, or say, "When you are ready to speak calmly to me, I will listen," or use any other positive tactic, she will keep screaming, and the past two nights I just started screaming back. It was as though my "mommy hat" came off and I was just me, and damn it, I am just sick of being screamed at! ESPECIALLY by my four-year-old!
In addition to this type of thing, she's also breaking rules left and right and using the absolute worst judgment I've ever seen. Last week I discovered that she had been squeezing out a bit of toothpaste and eating it before applying some to her brush and brushing, and I told her how that is unhealthy (we use fluoride toothpaste), and even showed her pictures of fluorosis online to get my point across. It seemed to make an impact, but tonight I caught her doing it again! Am I expecting too much from her? She's very bright and verbally precocious, so sometimes I'm not sure if she's just acting her age and I don't realize it. Of course, the toothpaste is now off limits, and dh or I will have to put it on her brush for her. We used to let her brush and then we would "finish" for her, so we weren't always in the room at the beginning.
I don't know what is causing this! Dh is traveling this week, but he travels for work all the time and she has never acted this way. She eats fine, she gets enough sleep...we are on a break between camp and school so she's with me all day...maybe that's it. But I feel like I'm trying so hard to handle this in a good way and I succeed all day long, and then she just delivers that final straw. Help!!! Sorry this is so long, but I needed to vent!
..) so that doesn't help either. Dd is also very articulate and I also wonder if I'm expecting more from her than I should. Then we have some Mommy Time w/o ds and she is as great as ever (still sounding like a teen to me!)
