My ds has just recently turned three, and I have found myself in a sort of weird dynamic with him some of the time recently. Lately, ds will become upset about things that seem to me to be fairly ordinary and were previously non-issues.<br><br>
For example, this morning, I made him oatmeal just as I have done nearly every morning for the last year. He started to melt down over the idea that it was too hot (I always serve it on a plate so that it can cool as quickly as possible, rather than a molten bowl of oats--we've done it this way for some time), and he started to cry that it was too hot and was not open to suggestions that he could take small bites from the edges (we've talked about this lots in the past), or he could just wait a few minutes for it to cool. I have seen this child inhale an entire plate of oatmeal just as quickly as I could get it in front of him many times in the past.<br><br>
So. He goes into meltdown mode, I go into iron maiden mode; I have suggested solutions, he's still upset and ultimately, I find myself saying, NO.<br>
As in, no, I'm not going to have this conversation with you right now, I have offered you some suggestions, but I'm not going to engage in this upset. Also, I start feeling irritated and impatient and disinclined to to engage further about whatever the topic is.<br><br>
I'm not feeling so good about my approach, because clearly something is upsetting. This has been coming up in other ways, too, and I am feeling like I'm drawing boundaries over what I will engage in or how in a way that is too arbitrary or concrete, or something. It does usually blow over pretty quickly, and we get on with things as usual, but I'm not feeling so great about this.<br><br>
Does anyone have any insight or suggestions?
For example, this morning, I made him oatmeal just as I have done nearly every morning for the last year. He started to melt down over the idea that it was too hot (I always serve it on a plate so that it can cool as quickly as possible, rather than a molten bowl of oats--we've done it this way for some time), and he started to cry that it was too hot and was not open to suggestions that he could take small bites from the edges (we've talked about this lots in the past), or he could just wait a few minutes for it to cool. I have seen this child inhale an entire plate of oatmeal just as quickly as I could get it in front of him many times in the past.<br><br>
So. He goes into meltdown mode, I go into iron maiden mode; I have suggested solutions, he's still upset and ultimately, I find myself saying, NO.<br>
As in, no, I'm not going to have this conversation with you right now, I have offered you some suggestions, but I'm not going to engage in this upset. Also, I start feeling irritated and impatient and disinclined to to engage further about whatever the topic is.<br><br>
I'm not feeling so good about my approach, because clearly something is upsetting. This has been coming up in other ways, too, and I am feeling like I'm drawing boundaries over what I will engage in or how in a way that is too arbitrary or concrete, or something. It does usually blow over pretty quickly, and we get on with things as usual, but I'm not feeling so great about this.<br><br>
Does anyone have any insight or suggestions?