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My sweet, independent, well-behaved 4 yr old dd seemed to be adjusting fine to her new baby sister, even though the baby was colicky (until I stopped eating dairy. ) We probably took advantage of her willingness to play alone, and she enjoyed special time with visting relatives. A month ago, when baby was a few weeks old and guests were gone, she started whining and demanding things much more than normal. Short on sleep, dh and I were less patient than we should have been and yelled at her and sent her to her room several times. About a week ago, she started hitting and kicking, sometimes in anger and sometimes laughing, out of the blue. She is very verbal and can explain that "angry Kate" is always pushing to get out.
7 yr old ds loves to talk to me, so she's competing with him for attention also and is used to him being at school. He likes to tease her and get a reaction. I'm trying to get him to stop and help me show her good behavior instead. I'm trying to give her attention, but it's hard with dh working long hours and part of the weekends and baby always in arms. My parents do things with dd1 and ds together. I understand why dd1 is struggling, but I have no idea how to react to her behavior. I don't want an angry child, or one who thinks her behavior is okay.Please tell me this is temporary. So far, baby is the only one she does not attack, but that possibilty also worries me.
My sweet, independent, well-behaved 4 yr old dd seemed to be adjusting fine to her new baby sister, even though the baby was colicky (until I stopped eating dairy. ) We probably took advantage of her willingness to play alone, and she enjoyed special time with visting relatives. A month ago, when baby was a few weeks old and guests were gone, she started whining and demanding things much more than normal. Short on sleep, dh and I were less patient than we should have been and yelled at her and sent her to her room several times. About a week ago, she started hitting and kicking, sometimes in anger and sometimes laughing, out of the blue. She is very verbal and can explain that "angry Kate" is always pushing to get out.
7 yr old ds loves to talk to me, so she's competing with him for attention also and is used to him being at school. He likes to tease her and get a reaction. I'm trying to get him to stop and help me show her good behavior instead. I'm trying to give her attention, but it's hard with dh working long hours and part of the weekends and baby always in arms. My parents do things with dd1 and ds together. I understand why dd1 is struggling, but I have no idea how to react to her behavior. I don't want an angry child, or one who thinks her behavior is okay.Please tell me this is temporary. So far, baby is the only one she does not attack, but that possibilty also worries me.
