This week has been particularly wearing on the toddler front. Chaos has 3 year funding at nursery which covers term times. We pay for any nursery time in the holidays which I think is fair enough. Unfortunately, there is a weeks difference meaning that this week wasn't funded even though it is still term time so Chaos has been home...
I knew this was coming last week so I made plans so we had something to do every day. He is a child that needs almost constantly occupying or he will get up to no good. We have had a great week as I wrote in my Reasons to be Cheerful post but his behaviour has been awful. He suddenly has decided that he doesn't like ANY foods offered or put in front of him, he is unwilling to do things that he usually enjoys, he is snatching toys and he has also started biting and pinching Squish when they are in a room together. He has been totally unbearable. He has always been the more highly strung of the two of them but this is ridiculous!
I was thinking about it earlier and wondering if he is just reacting to being in an unknown routine? All these activities are different for him and he usually has the whole family with us when we do things so maybe he feels a bit of pressure or something. I have my parenting class this morning so I will ask their opinions too...
We talked about Chaos and his behaviour this week. The others felt he could be having a confidence wobble and the only thing children have any control over is what they eat. That may be why he is trying to exert his opinion over his food and saying he doesn't like things he loves.
Im not sure if this is what's going on but it makes sense to me. We need to make sure we use plenty of positive praise and ignoring any unwanted behaviour. It is going to be quite difficult as he can be really trying at times!
I have ordered the book that goes with the parenting course I am doing so I'm hoping that will be here soon. It's called The Incredible Years by Carolyn Webster-Stratton. It's American so very enthusiastic on the praise but brilliant. We have had some positive results with the boys already so I am a keen follower. The best thing is I can see how all the work we put in now will pay off later on. It makes total sense unlike some of these theories that are totally unfathomable!
My son use to eat voraciously and then a phase when he started being a fuzzy eater. I have to spoon feed him just so I know he is eating which is probably bad but its my only option then. He is turning 4 in 4 months and I am now only training him to eat on the table by himself =(
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When JJ was three EJ had just been born and his behaviour went haywire - particularly with awful eating habits. I remember having discussions with other parents of older children who said that they thought the whole 'terrible twos' thing was a smokescreen to the fact that kids tend to get worse behaved at the age of three! JJ is one of those kids like Chaos who needs constant input - he is hard work and has only in recent months been happy to just quietly watch a whole TV programme on his DVD player without moving or talking! Good luck - I'm sure the challenging behaviour will be a short-lived phase. #PoCoLo
ReplyDeleteParenting really is such a hard job when it involves pre-empting and mind reading! I remember Grace regularly changing her feeding habits and it did my head in! Hope the book helps and the challenging behaviour calms down. Thank you for linking to PoCoLo :) x
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