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Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Three is Tough

Anyone who tells you that three is worse than two, believe them!   Our three year old:
  • Is incredibly defiant (she spent a whole day at daycare not listening to her teachers...just to begin with)
  • Yells a lot
  • Is very good at procrastinating when it comes to:
    • Bedtime
    • Brushing teeth
    • Getting dressed
  • Harasses the twins until they cry
  • Subtly elbows/hits/pushes the twins
  • Can be very cranky in the morning
  • Doesn't listen if she doesn't want to
For awhile we would send her to her room when she hurt the twins because she hates to be separated from what is going on however while she understood what she did wrong it didn't seem to be stopping her from doing it.  So this weekend we started an incentive system, she's definitely a carrot person. 

We have a star chart in the kitchen where she gets a star for going the morning/evening without making the twins cry or for not yelling or for having her teeth brushed within a 5 minute time limit.  We also give out random stars for positive things she does like being really polite.  After 5 stars she gets a prize.  We have a box with lots of little toys and a few pieces of chocolate.  So far the chocolate is the most popular prize.  She's doing great with the tooth brushing, ok with the twins and horrible with the yelling. 

On the other hand when she's in a good mood she is a lot of fun to be around.  She wants to know about what letter words start with and can pick out "L" and "P" (and possibly others).  There are moments when she plays really well with her brother and sister, definitely my favorite parts of the day.  She is very well-spoken, very polite and has lots of positive energy.  While three is definitely tough I like it better infancy and toddlerhood!

2 comments:

Carrie27 said...

Would you be willing to share a picture of your chart? This is something I could definitely start using with all three of mine.

Lara said...

I totally agree, 3 is harder than 2. The yelling though.... seems to only get louder at 4. Just warning you ;)
Good luck, sounds like you have some good strategies in place!