Terrible twos??

Question

My daughter will be 2 in September and she is becoming a Hellion for lack of a better term. Almost everyday this week at daycare she has bitten, pinched, spit at or hit someone. Her father and I discipline her as needed, but it doesn't seem to be helping. Has anyone gone through this with their children? If so, how did you break them out of it?

Answer 1

Be firm and be consistent.  Also...brace yourself...the two's aren't so terrible.  It is when they hit three that they turn into hellions.  Whoever came up with the phrase "terrible two's" lied.  It should be the terrible three's!!

Answer 2

Well how are you disciplining her?  It takes more than a little talking to and hitting her back is not the answer.   BUT it will take something attention getting and dramatic to bring about a change if this is becoming habitual.

I would try a few different things.  She's no dummy....  get down at her level face to face, hold her by the shoulders and firmly without yelling you tell her IT IS NOT OK TO BITE HIT OR PINCH SOMEONE ELSE..... DO you want me to Bite you, Pinch you, or hit you?  OF COURSE NOT - it is NOT nice and we don't do this to anyone else EVER!  Then you put her in her room, close the door and tell her she is going to stay in her room for 30 minutes.  If it continues, you repeat the process but take something AWAY FROM HER when you put her in the room next time.  Each additional time you remove something ELSE from her room - something that is significant to her if possible.  Continue to do this with each event until she LITERALLY has nothing left in her room if needs be - this means down to the dresser, bed, rugs, all toys, down to an empty room if needs be!  I'm serious!    She gets nothing BACK until the behavior changes and remains absent for atleast a few days....  Explain as you go thru this process every step along the way to her.  THEY understand more than we give them credit for!

You have to show her you mean business but you aren't going to harm her in the process - you are just trying to make a strong impression that brings about changed behavior. Don't yell at her - Don't smack her, Don't bite, pinch or do to her what YOU DON'T WANT her to do to others (rather a double standard that would be!)..... but she needs to correlate her behavior with the consequences - I THINK meaningful consequences that are SURE and certain is what makes children alter behavior.  ALWAYS remind her you love her. hug her after wards and don't let the criticism and negativity of the event carry over into the rest of her day or your daily relationship with her.  JUST make it about this PARTICULAR behavior.  I think if you are consistent and firm and follow through YOU CAN make an impact for change with her.  Give it a try!

Answer 3

All I can say is be consistent  with your discipline and know that this stage will pass.  My daughter just turned three and she started her "terrible twos" around 14 months and now is the terrible threes!  It is hard for them to communicate at this age and they get frustrated and we get frustrated too.  They will grow out of it, but you don't want them to get away with it either and think that it is OK.  Then you would have a grade schooler doing the same thing as a three year old!  Be consistent, try different things such as a time out to let your daughter have a moment away from what she has done, and it helps for us to not get so upset.  I always give my daughter a warning and let her know if she does it again then it is time out.  After she is in time out I do a minute for her age so you would do a little over a minute I make her apologize and make sure she knows what she did was wrong.  It still happens several times a day, but sometimes they act out if they are bored or don't feel as if any one is listening to them.  My mom always says "this too shall pass" she got through me and assures me that it will get better.  Good Luck and remember they are only little for a little while try to enjoy it!

Answer 4

yes I did with both my kids.... when they bit me I would bite back and so on

Answer 5

Consistency, whatever you do at home has to carry over to daycare. Time outs etc..Its kind of hard at this age because they're testing boundaries. Is she only doing this at daycare? That would make it seem like there is a supervision issue that needs to be addressed and she may be going back and forth with another child with this behavior.

Answer 6

I am the mother of 4 children ages 13, 10, 3 and 1. Every child has what we call terrible 2's. not to sound pesamistic but it is probably gonna get worse before it gets better.She is testing the limits all you can do is try to teach her what is acceptable and what is not,and keep reinforcing good behavior not the bad. It's not easy because you'll want to pull your hair out,but they will test the limits everytime you turn around that's why I don't know why they call it terrible 2's. But it will get better just keep in mind that she will always test the limits and as long as you are consistant she will learn. My 13yr old and my 10yr old still try every now and then to test me  but not as often as my 3yr old does. it will get better as long as you stick with what you will put up with and what you won't. **** Luck!!

Answer 7

Most kids go through a stage like that.  Kids often get the terrible 2's around 18 months, are fine at 2 and then have a hard time again at two and a half.  When my daughter was about eighteen months she went through a biting phase for about a week and it was really frustrating.  I couldn't figure out what to do.  All sorts of friends gave me different advice about why she was biting.  Finally someone suggested something that sounded true.  She felt like she wasn't in control of her environment.  So I started giving her choices about things.  Usually this involved picking between two things.  Do you want to wear this or that?  Do you want to eat this or that?  Do you want to go here or there?  If she didn't want to get dressed at all I would ask her what arm she wanted up put through the arm hole first.  The day I did that she only bit once and in the week that followed she only bit once more.  You need to see if you can figure out the reason for the biting.  Ask the people who have spent time around her and see if you can come up with a reason and then find a way to deal with the reason and the behavior will improve.

Answer 8

I am 17 years old with 2 kids and my kids are 2 and  a half and 1 and a half and they are soooo bad so dont think u r in this alone i think it is just all kids!!! hang in there it will get better good luck :)