luvdemtigers

My little girl is a complete angel. Sometimes. Other times she is a complete terror. She will NOT listen to me at all. If she is doing something that I tell her no, she keeps on doing it. Tonight, I told her not to do something and she stopped, looked me in my face, and did it again. I gave her a time out and she came right back and did the exact same thing again. 3 time ouots later for doing it 3 more times, I had to get my wife to take her out of the room because I was losing patience. I dont know why she wont listen to me. She KNOWS what no means, she just prefers to do the opposite of what I say. This drives me NUTS!

Am I wrong? My wife says Im too hard on her and that she is seeking attention, whether negative or positive. My wife is at home with her 24/7 while I go out and work 8-12 hours per day. Im not at home with my little girl as much as I would like to be, but when i am I just want her to be well behaved. Today in a restaurant and the grocery store, she was worse than she has ever been. Screaming, hitting us, kicking...it was terrible. I tried to ignore it but it was too hard.

Is it me? My wife will laugh at her when she does what she does (like looking me in my face and doing what I say not to). I feel that laughing at her is encouraging this from her. I just dont know where to turn. Im gonna lose my family over this because I get upset and yell at her. I dont WANT to yell at my little girl, but even when I yell, she just laughs at me.

I guess when my wife told me I was a terrible parent, she was right.

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LDT

fallon

To me it seems that the biggest problem is that you and your wife aren't on the same page when it comes to your daughter. Children are very smart and from a very young age can learn to manipulate a situation where they think they can. My daughter tries this often with my mother and I. She is 4 now but it stated when she was about 2. You aren't wrong for wanting her to behave. I know you probably don't want to yell at her and it must be frustrating for that your wife laughs at this behavior. I think you two really need to talk about what's going on here. If you guys can come to some common ground and stop reinforcing negative behavior I bet you would see a lot more angel than terror, although they call don't call them the terrible 2s for no reason. Your wife should also keep in mind that laugh and smiling at your child tells her that mommy is happy about the way she is acting, which to her is great so your dd doesn't think what she is doing is wrong. It also shows your dd that it doesn't matter what dad says because mommy will just yell at him

Kaytee

I agree with Fallon, your wife laughing is going to increase the problem. Also maybe you are to harsh and your wife is too easy going. Its hard to say. I think you both need to get on the same page.
Also it is normal for kids this age to test teh boundries of what they can get away with. I have always been told, its not hte terrible 2's it the terrible 3's. So wahtch out she is almost 3!!

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SageMother

Your wife's laughing is teaching your daughter that this in entertaining and a good way to hold attention, also.

I am a harsh person with somethings, but that is because I was a single parent and couldn't afford to muck about with discipline. Your daughter is rather fortunate. In your shoes, as soon as she moved to keep doing what she had been told not to, she would recieved a sound swat on the rear and a very loud "no"!

* I can hear the gasp of horror in people reading this, LOL*

Life is too short to play control games with kids.

tater03

I would agree that you two are not on the same page when it comes to diciplining. That can be confusing to a child because she might get away with something with Mom and in turn starts to think it is alright to do. So that may be why she does certain things the way she does with you.
That being said I always said that it should have been the terrible three's instead of the terrible two's. Both my sons were terrible at three for me.

LiannC

I know how you feel, my son is starting already and he's 22 months. It's frustrating, but you gotta love them.. Show them who is boss and they will calm down.