I live in Costa Rica with my 4 year old little boy and I am pretty much at my wits end with him and myself as a parent. Let me explain the history, his father and I are split up for almost 3 years, my little guy spends Mom-Fri with me while in pre-school and visits his father on the weekends. He is a great child who is very warm, but he gets in these moods where no one wants to be around him. It is his way or the highway, and I have tried everything to stop this from happening, but I am slowly getting tired and exhausted from all of the work. Here are my situations:
1. Everytime we have a meal, excluding breakfast, it is a constant fight for him to eat. After three years of this, I am at the end of my rope and can´t seem to find the energy to force him to eat. What kind of parent am I to let my child get away with not eating? Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can encourage him to eat on a daily basis without fights? Instead of me ending up in my room crying because I have spent the last 3 years cooking and having to fight my kid to eat.
2. He has absolutely no respect for me or any kind of authority. I feel that I do not let him do everything he wants, but he acts like a kid that gets his way everytime. Does anyone have any suggestions on the kinds of punishments that I can give him to discipline him? I am at the end of my rope, I give him a spank(never wanted to do this, but it happened) and it doesn´t work, I have tried time-outs, losing priveledges, etc. I just can´t think of anything else that is going to work.
Thanks for any help I can get in advance!
1. Everytime we have a meal, excluding breakfast, it is a constant fight for him to eat. After three years of this, I am at the end of my rope and can´t seem to find the energy to force him to eat. What kind of parent am I to let my child get away with not eating? Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can encourage him to eat on a daily basis without fights? Instead of me ending up in my room crying because I have spent the last 3 years cooking and having to fight my kid to eat.
2. He has absolutely no respect for me or any kind of authority. I feel that I do not let him do everything he wants, but he acts like a kid that gets his way everytime. Does anyone have any suggestions on the kinds of punishments that I can give him to discipline him? I am at the end of my rope, I give him a spank(never wanted to do this, but it happened) and it doesn´t work, I have tried time-outs, losing priveledges, etc. I just can´t think of anything else that is going to work.
Thanks for any help I can get in advance!