Misbehaving and feeling deflated.
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All normal behaviours but definitely challenging!! I got the audiobook(cos who's got time to read rn 😂) of 'how to talk so little kids will listen' and there are some really good tactics in there. There's not much point using discipline, they just don't get it. My go to at the moment is giving options between two things so she's still getting some choice (now shes learnes the word "both" it's become a bit more of a debate 😂), or drawing pictures of faces to help explain her emotions to her/distract her. If she's crying now I say OK let's do the faces, and she comes and sits on my lap, I draw a sad face and say "that's you", we add tears, she asks me to give it different hair colours, then when she's cheered up I draw a happy face and say "now this is you!" And she LOVES it. You can adapt it to what your child responds to e.g draw a face, give them a crayon and encourage them to scribble their anger, or crumple the paper up to show it.
Nothing is a magic solution obviously but the first time I did the faces with her my husband thought I'd hypnotised her. So I'm going to milk that as much as I can and tell anyone who'll listen how well it worked for us! I have friends who have had success with it too 😊
This is all normal 2 year old behaviour and by no means does it make you a bad mother at all. My daughter is 2.5 almost and normally the sweetest child however when she has a tantrum she's screaming at the top of her voice for what seems like forever. It's like she's a completely different child. There is no reasoning with her so I just say "I understand you are feeling angry and upset but I said no because..." if she hits, bites, pinches, throws... I do the "no it's not nice because it hurts. Hands are for cuddles not for X, Y, Z..." if she continues to throw especially, I give a warning that I will take the toy and then take it and not let her have it. It's a lot of repetitiveness but eventually they start to hesitate. Even now sometimes she's in such a mood that she doesn't listen at all and I feel like I'm going crazy and disciplining all day. Behaviour has definitely escalated since 2. 🫠
Sometimes even too much talking is giving attention to the behaviour. Sometimes simply walking away and not engaging if he’s showing those behaviours towards you and returning when he’s stopped etc
Thank you everyone, sometimes it feels so isolating that it’s only happening to us. I am trying the things above, and they do work. But when it happens back to back it’s just really tough ❤️ xx
This is so standard 2 year old stuff, so shouting / whatever won't work, they're starting to figure out their own autonomy. My middle boy was wild when he was 2, he's now 5.5 and the kindest, sweetest, gentlest little boy. He is just a wonder. They grow out of it and it gets better.