Terrible 2, Meet Terrible 3

Posted on 10 15, 2009 under The Manual by Noodad | Comments

Those people that tell you that the “Terrible 2s” are bad, aren”t telling you the whole story. The whole truth is that Terrible 2s really last into the Terrible 3s. And both years are challenging.

Calling it the Terrible two slash threes, just didn”t roll off the tongue. So the good people who name these things must have decided, given the choice, to warn people at the earliest possible time. Thus the name, Terrible 2.

Millions of people look forward to their kid”s 3rd birthday hoping, that as they blow out the candles on their cake, out goes the demons that took over their 2 year old bodies. That just doesn”t happen. The tantrums continue, the different ways your child can contradict you grows, and the Time Outs increase.

When my daughter turned three, I felt like I lost my excuse for her behavior. She wasn”t 2 anymore so clearly it couldn”t be the terrible 2s! I was wrong. Noodads, you just need to know that even though your kids have grown older, and their vocabulary has grown larger, their behavior has not grown as quickly. So don”t just think your kid is a brat. Your kid is just figuring out what it means to be mobile, how to deal with being able to communicate, and how to deal with feelings.

So how do you solve it? You don”t. You stay consistent in your methods of discipline. You clearly communicate results of their bad behavior and you follow through with the punishment. Remember, you have as much experience with tantrums as your child does. For every time your kid throws one, you have dealt with it. Just stay the course.

Good luck Noodads.

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