Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Wits Ends

I don't know what to do with Miss Peanut Butter. They tell me she is being aggressive on the playground at day care. I don't know what they want me to do. She is hitting, scratching, and biting me during her tantrums. Today she screamed for at least 40 min until I wrestled her into her swim suit and put her in the pool to cool her off. She was fine after that. She doesn't seem to listen to any sort of reasoning and yes I know she isn't 2 yet, but I would think she gets No, you can't hit, it hurts when you do that. Which I think leads her to believe good let me do it some more. Then J gets on my case at the baseball game tonight how I handle things. I was a wee bit pissed. I was like how do you want me to do things. He was more mad at The Boy's team choking and taking it out on me. I wasn't having it and left. It is amazing how much easier it was to run home since I was mad. Then she had to be an angel when we got home.
At work I actually watched a guy pull out handfuls of cereal out of the garbage and proceed to sit back down and eat it. I was dumbfounded I hadn't seen that yet. I think he was going to do something similar at lunch, but I nipped that in the bud.

9 comments:

KG said...

My son bit the kid we share the nanny with, today. And left a bite indentation! I do NOT want to be the biter's parent!

Anyway, my kid is younger than yours so I feel your pain about being totally unable to reason with her. My latest tactic is when I'm bitten to say "no," put him down, and then walk out of the room and leave him sitting there. Jury is out on whether this will make any difference at all whatsoever.

I'm sure I'll have more toothmarks tomorrow!

Amy said...

Hang in there!

As for the cereal thing.... GROSS!

Kat said...

I have no advice for you. I just don't know. Hang in there! It is probably just a phase, right?

The cereal? Ick.

Kim Airhart said...

I am sure you are frustrated. Just take a deep breath and I am sure she will get through this. Maybe her terrible two's are starting early. I wish I had some advice for you but my baby is still in my tummy and I don't know what it's like yet. I am sure I will go through this and will need everyones advice on how they got through it.
Good luck!

Michelle Leigh said...

I'm with ya. Bianca is my little biter, she thinks it's funny. She recently went through a phase where she thought it was funny to give people "owies". I usually tell her what she did hurts, made her say sorry and give kisses. She's only 18 months, but she understands everything. I would just be consistent. She may not respond to it right away, but eventually it will set in. I wish I had more advice. Annika was so easy at this age, sounds like B and PB are very alike!

Julie said...

I do the whole "Super Nanny" timeout thing and it usually works. I say usually because sometimes I think she blocks out everything I say. When she screams and has a tantrum, I just let her wind down. Luckily she is good at school. Oh and I also do the counting to 3 thing, this works but it took a long time for her to grasp it. Now if I say ONE, she stops immediately.

Anonymous said...

Cooper was just about M.'s age when he started doing all those things - I think in large part because he was not much of a talker and would get very frustrated about not being able to get his point across. We were still living in a small apartment, so I would put him in his room for a 'break' . . . he would throw his tantrum, get it out of his system, and then come out of his room. Like Julie, we also started counting - he and Maren both know that when I start counting I mean business, and if they have not stopped their bad behavior by the time I hit 3, they are going to be put in their room. Good luck!

Leslie Collins said...

Reyna has bit me a couple of times. Oh, and my mom. She thinks it's funny. I have firmly told her that biting hurts, but it's hard.

Try to hang in there. There really isn't much that you can do while you are at work and she is a daycare. I worked at a daycare several years ago and I hated telling parents stuff that happened during the day because I know it made them upset to hear something like that. For one, they aren't there and they are feeling guilty that they weren't and two, it's frustrating because you can't discipline a two year old on something they did hours before picking them up. Try not to stress. I am sure it's just a phase.

Rose said...

I don't have a lot of advice either, but I know what you're going through. My son is 3 and half and hits as soon as he feels threatened by another child [thinking maybe they will take his toy] or gets angry with me [when he doesn't want to do what needs to be done at the time]. I talk to him a lot. I didn't start "time outs" until after he was 2 years old. I felt he wouldn't get that before then. I DID get a book that I recommend that we still read together called "Hands are not for hitting" there is also one called "Teeth are not for biting" You can find them on Amazon. It's a start.

I definitely have a spirited child and though I am not one to read ANY parenting book cover to cover, or take it as the end all; I can say that the book "Raising your Spirited Child" has comforted me as a parent and helped me understand my son's personality better.