I will figure out just how to deal with this boy and the current emotional roller coaster he's riding.
My nice voice isn't working.
My threats don't stop the tears.
My incentives don't even scratch the surface.
When I can't get him to calm down I feel like a failure. I know I'm not, but emotional breakdowns in a 2 year old boy?
Please tell me this is normal, please?
But, man alive, I love this boy.
I love when he fake sneezes so we'll say, "bless you." Usually when he's super happy and all is good in his world, he sneezes. It's the opposite end of the emotional roller coaster spectrum.
Here's hoping we have LOTS of fake sneezes tomorrow.
I mean this in the nicest way possible ;) BUT it is about time you see what parenting children is all about!!! :) And you wondered why we have to spank and raise voices at our house? Not because I wanted to. Geez. SOOO overrated. I kind of pictured myself being a calm, cool and pleasant mother. And then...enter those Shillig genes! At least that is what I like to think. ;)Oh kids. They are good times...right?!!! Good thing the good moments make up for the bad! I thought Madi was hard...then, I met Braxton!!!
ReplyDeleteGood luck by the way! Let me know if something works because we are still searching at our house and my sleep deprivation sure doesn't help matters!
ReplyDeleteI left my "nice" voice behind the day I said "I do" to a man with two children. Insert evil step-mother. My nice voice is used when I'm actually ignoring them and feel the need to pretend I'm paying attention. Then I notice what's going on and suddenly I'm a shrieking harpy. I've determined they like me this way otherwise why would they act so impossibly misbehaved?
ReplyDeleteoh goodness. my nice voice left when z and z turned two. seriously. i wonder if it'll ever come back!
ReplyDeleteIs there a chance he is getting overstimulated? My kids throw massive fits when overstimulated, and we have tried everything, the only thing that works is separating them for the rest of life. Whether they are sitting in the laundry room, in their room with the door shut, or laying in my bed by themselves. Mine will never stop screaming unless we put them alone. The other day I saw my six year on the stairs trying to calm himself down because he knows I won't listen to fits, but once he calms down I'll talk to him.
ReplyDeleteAlthough at 2 and 3 they are not not that easy. Most of the time, I have to throw my daughter onto her bed, and run out the door, to get it closed before she can run out too. Then everytime she opens the door, put her back in, until she stops screaming. She has been known to scream, thrash and kick in her room for more than 30 minutes. But once she calms down she comes out smiling, ready to be happy. Oh I should also add, brent has the self control to get in their face before leaving them in their room, to say very loudly so they can hear "THIS IS UNEXCEPTABLE!" I do not have the self control, so I leave them.
You don't actually know me, but we have a mutual friend, Andra Thomas, and I love reading your blog. Have you read the love and logic book? It's an awesome helpful stress free way of dealing with everything! I love it and it works great on my 2-yr old and my 3-hr old!
ReplyDeleteOh I should add, threats, incentives, mean voices, nice voices, spanks, loss of rewards nothing has ever worked on my daughter. We never know what to do with her, we take away toys, we throw them away, we put her to bed early, nothing, the only thing that occasionally works is taking lovely away if we are within a half hour of bedtime. We punish her when she is bad, but she doesn't care, she is defiant as they come. My dad told me I know it seems like it isn't work, but keep trying. Some kids are just born knowing they have agency and can do what they want, no matter what happens.
ReplyDeleteI have two books that are a must read. (I have a child just like that and one that's a hundred times worse) The first one is Ephraim's Child. The second one is by far the BEST PARENTING BOOK outthere. And I've read (and studied in school) A LOT of them. It is 5 SPIRITUAL SOLUTIONS TO EVERYDAY PARENTING. Seriously, it is the best! I'm reading it right now and if you have difficult children, this is THE book!
ReplyDeleteOf course, it's written by Richard and Linda Eyre. Shawni (I think you said you follow her blog) has mentioned a couple of times how she has a difficult time with her youngest. She uses A LOT of destraction things with her to get her to calm down. I am a yeller and it is SO UNNCESSARY! I'm working really hard on it because I hate that about myself. It makes me sad to see other parents yell at their children because they (the parent)have no self control. Well, I don't either and I'm trying to learn to. Also, Elder Robbins conference talk from April 2011 is a great talk! It was my favorite because he briefly addressed this issue.
He said that sometimes our children are placed in our homes to teach us something. :D