In the last six months a lot changed, we moved to a new house, my wife had a baby (girl) and my son turned 4 and started school.
I’m not really sure if this is the reason but for the last month or so, my son has more and more temper tantrums. Basically any time we tell him no, he gets very frustrated and angry. Sometimes shouting or pushing me. It’s pretty new behavior and I really don’t like it. I have talked to him after the tantrums and he usually agrees he shouldn’t behave like this, but so far it keeps coming back. One other thing he does is just ignoring us whenever we ask him something he doesn’t want to do, pretending he can’t hear us.
The last thing I want to do is be angry or use threads (like I’m counting to 3). But sometimes it’s the only way to get him to do something (like getting dressed for school).
I would really want to have a better way to communicate without the negativity.
A new house and a new baby does sound like a lot of big changes for a 4 year old. He’s probably having a hard time processing it all.
Unfortunately I don’t have much advice to help him through it. But, when it gets frustrating, try to remember that he is new to all of this stuff and needs your help and patience to show him that all is ok.
Thanks, most of the time I do this, but sometimes when there is a time limit it’s difficult. Like when he has to get ready to go to school and I don’t want to be the parent that’s always late.
But you are right I definitely need to remind me of this more often.
Oh, I’m definitely with you. I can give the advice, but I often have a hard time following it myself.