My (almost) 2 year old is a BRAT!

There! I said it - I mean, not really....but man, does he know how to push a button or two. We woke up a week ago and my sweet angel of a child turned into a crazy, eye rolling, non-listening, almost 2 year old B.R.A.T.

What the hell!

I would almost find his behavior comical if he wasn't my kid...he has gotten into the habit of going totally limp when you pick him up and he doesn't want to go wherever it is you are taking him. I mean, we could be going to get ice cream and because I need him to go - he turns into a wet noodle. He puts his hands up in the air and removes the armpit hold I would have and kicks and fights. He pushes and throws and sometimes bites. He stomps (which we allow) and hits (which we don't allow) and totally acts like a terror.

So we have started experimenting with consequences that might work. Raising our voice isn't very effective and we don't believe in spanking. But our social small human seems to respond better when we use the time out method and totally ignore him. Yup, an oldy but a goody....the silent treatment.

The trick to timeout working seems to be in the consistency of it (there are rules and you go to time out if you don't obey them) and the silent treatment (not acknowledgement whatsoever).

The Silent Treatment is the hardest part. Mainly because I want to tell him to just be quiet. It's not the end of the world (which from this picture you can tell he clearly disagrees with me). He calls my name, and then screams, and then calls for Dada. He is getting to the point where he knows he has to get calm before we can leave the stairs. I started with 2 minute time out, but now it seems to get a better response if we make him wait until he calms down.

My kiddo has a temper....he gets that from me. So we are working on getting him calmer when he is dealing with his emotions. I am a firm believer that he should have his own emotions and he should learn to express them (which is why we allow stomping - not hitting) and let him cry until he is done. But we don't allow or encourage ANY abusive behavior. EVER.

Really the hardest part is for me. I have a really, really hard time with this behavior. Like I said before, I can be a hot head - and this isn't a good quality when raising a small human. I get easily frustrated, and upset, and my anger can in turn make the situation worse. So I have to spend a lot of time, just closing my eyes...counting to 10...and praying my head doesn't explode.

Raising Small Humans is hard...especially when he's a toddler and making me crazy! We still have times when he is sweet and tender and silly....but right now it's been a lot of brattiness and A LOT of time out! Pray for me! Seriously....I need it!

#timeout #consequences #raisingsmallhumans #toddler #patience #kids #yougotthis #Bubba #parenting #lifelessons #meltdowns