This precious girl has been quite the challenge this week. It's just been one of those weeks where I find myself saying, "Stephanie, you have no clue what you're doing," at the end of every single day. It's fine to have ONE day like that every once in a while but a whole week's worth!?!?! AHHH!!!!
Hattie has been SUPER WHINEY all week. Morning, noon, and night. Things she never whined about before, she is throwing fits over. Small things. Anything. Everything. And the THING is that this week was supposed to be super fun. Being my first week at home with just Hattie again, I planned outings and things to do with friends every single day. We were supposed to have a BLAST. Instead, she's whining constantly and disobeying, and I'm finding myself so frustrated and embarrassed that my child is acting up so much.
So my question to all of you mamas is how do you deal with the whining? Do you ignore it, punish it, a combination? Please give me any helpful tips or suggestions that work for you in your household before I lose my miiiiiind!
4 comments:
Oh my, I am right there with you, Stephanie. Saige is definitely a whiner and a tantrum thrower. So for the past couple of months Patrick and I have stopped tolerating it. We warn her to stop whining because that is not what "big girls" do and then if she continues she goes straight to the crib. We are pro-spanking, but from talking to other parents with "tantrum throwers" since they do it for attention, time out is huge punishment to them. It has worked with Saige and she completely understands why she is getting in trouble and the threat of it usually is enough. Our problem is that we may need to step it up a notch and do the spanking. We just haven't yet, because she is a pretty compliant child and is usually not out right disobedient. But I can not handle the whining, so not giving her the attention that she wants when she does it has seemed to help. I am curious to hear from other mammas out there too. Thanks for posting this. :)
I say "Mommy will help you when you use your pretty big girl voice" and ignore her. You will need to model what whining is and praise her when she uses her normal voice, and once you know she realizes the difference, then start saying that.
Here's my other auntly advice - you are about to enter the horrible land of Two Year Molars. They take for-freaking-ever to cut - like, all year - and they must hurt like hades. Maggie is still only two down and two to go. I think they are a big factor in making the twos so terrible.
For some reason, toddlers seem to never be able to just tell you their mouth hurts, so it is a big guessing game. So whenever Mags is just super whiney and grouchy, just not herself (like today and yesterday) I pull out the Advil. Usually she is nicer within a few minutes.
PS - Love and Logic (a great book, by the way) says to say "Uh-oh, someone's whin-ing" in a singsongy voice so that they clue in. It also calms you down.
check her molars
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