Sunday, November 13, 2011

Holy Bejesus Age 3!

Wow. Brock has only been 3 years old for about 4 weeks. Right before his birthday he started refusing to go down for a nap. This has resulted is some serious tantrums. So bad in fact, that I have to walk away and go outside. I cannot handle the kicking and screaming. I've been at my wits end this weekend. I am on a mission to nip it in the bud before it becomes a problem. During his tantrums I have been yelling at him, but he just yells louder.  It has been a never ending battle. This evening though, I feel like I had a breakthrough. In the middle of his tantrum, I squatted down to his level, gently put my hands on his arms and asked him to come to the bathroom with me. I sat on the floor and in a calm voice, asked him to calm down then told him how his behavior was making me feel. I told him that I was going to stop yelling at him because it makes us both upset. He had a mini fit while I was talking to him, but I commited to myself that I was not going to yell. I let him yell and scream for a minute, then calmly told him again that I was not going to yell anymore and that  he needed a timeout because I did not like these tantrums. He agreed that he needed a timeout.  Brock HAS to know the order of how things are going to play out. So I told him he was going to sit in timeout for a few minutes and after timeout, he was going to say goodnight to daddy, then come back to his room to go to sleep. He agreed, repeated it all back to me, sat through his timeout, then went on with his regular bedtime routine and was out like a light by 6:30pm.

I am interested in hearing about what other parents do to get through tantrums. I get really anxious and can feel my blood pressure rising. Are there things you do to prevent tantrums? I would like to get a better routine set in place during the day so he has a little more structure. I really think that would help. Any thoughts? What is your child's schedule like? Any feedback is appreciated!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

We follow a schedule, but we are not SUPER strict about it (so if we have days where we can't stick to it perfectly, it's not the end of the world for our little one). I believe schedules are important, but naps are too (even at age 3 and 4). YOu can e-mail me if you want some tips for helping your little one sleep better- we have a great sleeper/napper. As far as temper tantrums go- we give our daughter a warning when she is on the brink... and if she continues with her (fussing, attitude etc.) to time out she goes. For about 5 minutes. Then apologizes and she learns from them.
p.s. I love the title of your post!