My youngest son has hit the terrible two's. AAAhhhhh!!! He is my third child so I have been through this before, but goodness sakes, I am about to pull out my hair. He is pulling tantrum, after tantrum, after tantrum. And I thought my oldest was headstrong :boggled: , but nothing compared to my youngest. His favorite saying is "no want to!" AAAhhh! Now I know two-year-olds are notorious for proclaiming their independence, but I can't seem to get him to do anything. I have tried all my tricks from my other children, and they haven't worked. Any ideas?
Diana

I know what you mean. My ds is 18 months and has already started throwing himself on the floor for some reason. :boggled: I just have been ignoring him and walk off. He then follows me and wants to be held, then throws himself down again and again. Just thinking about it makes me want to scream. :yikes: :weeping:

Sorry not much help, good luck!

Michelle

Distraction, works best for me. My middle son is 3 and his favorite thing in the world is Play Dough. If he is being a pain I just get out his art box and he will calm down. Anouther thing I've noticed with my older son is that he would occasionally get really grumpy and down right nasty but if he ate a small snack (non-sweet) like cheese or nuts or something he would return to his normal happy self with in 5 minutes.

SM

Oh, the memories. My son is now 6. I thought I was going to go crazy when he was 2. My son's personality is never going to be easy going, so the 2's were especially powerful. It was very hard to get through the day because if I did anything, such as open the door, when he had another idea, (which was all the time) he had a major tantrum. For my son, distraction was seldom very helpful because once he got going, it took him a long time to emotionally cool off. It never hurts to try it, but it didn't work well for me. I found a book very helpful: Raising your Spririted Child by Mary Kurcinka. I have practically memorized it because my son is so challenging and it is SUCH hard work being a GOOD PARENT for him. :p Maybe your son is spririted too. Good luck!!
P.S. My second child is now 2. She is having a major attack of the "do it myself's" but she is emotionally much cooler and it is about a million times easier dealing with a more distractable, naturally calmer child. Probably your first children were naturally easier in temperment.

Thanks for all the ideas!
I have tried the distraction and snack trick, but FPmommy, he is very "spirited." My oldest son was too, but he was also very active. However, my youngest is very headstrong. He digs his heels in "just because." He goes from being sweet and cuddly to growing horns :boggled: But he is my baby and I love him. I will check out the book you recommended. Thanks everyone!

Oh WannaBmd, I soooo know how you feel. My third is also my most challenging child. My oldest too was challenging, but distraction worked "fairly" well for him. # 2 was a breeze, and like any parent, I took full credit for her easy nature, claiming I had learned alot about parenting by the time she came along.... . Little did I know that #3 would come along to prove that I had NOTHING to do with #2's good behaviour Some days I just have no idea how to handle her. I hope this temperament serves her well in adulthood, then it will have all been worth it. :laughing:

There is a line in the Sprirted Child book that I cling to during the (many) tough times with my son, repeating to myself "He will be a sparkling adult, he will be a sparkling adult..." (And I sure hope it comes true!!! )

Lol, FPmommy. :laughing:

oh my goodness my son is going through this now also! he will be 2 in february! he likes to test our limits. however i find that he is at his worst when we are out in public. people look at me liek i am crazy to have such a wild child. i am nto sure how to deal with it. any ideas?

Rockfever,
2 ideas for public problems:
1) Take him out of public...even if you leave your grocery cart, and sit with him until he calms down (I have heard this works with some kids...never did with mine)
2) Be very firm with him like you are at home, a lot of people treat there children a bit differently (as far as discipline goes) They need to know that the rules don't change. Once they get used to the rules they tend to do very well. They know their parameters.

Oh, another idea is like SM suggested at that age never let them get too hungry, a lot of fits can be avoided by a snack. For a while I felt like my purse was a goody bag, as I searched for my wallet, I was pulling out granola bars, baggies of cereal, fruit snacks, etc... :rotfl:
hope it helps!

Well, I must say my three year old is the MOST challenging child I have ever faced. Course he has AD/HD (see topic under AD/HD).

My advice: none, I CANT CONTROL HIM!!!!!

I know what you mean Rockfever about the public thing, I DONT take him out in public. He is WILD, one time I was brave and had everybody in Meijer's gauking at us. Yes, I was feeling all these emotions all at once, didnt know what to do, insanely laugh, cry.....you get the picture

premedrn- we don't take him out much especially not to church or restaurants. we will ease back into these thinsg as we can reason with him more. i just take him for short jaunts to walmart or other errands.

wannab- i had been feeling bad for plugging him with snacks just becuase i wanted ot go shopping but i am glad to see thatyother moms do that. i givwe him the raisins in the box becuase it keeps him quite just trying to get the raisins out fo the box and he loves trying it!