I have a 5 year old son, a 3 year old son and a daughter who just turned 1 year old. Our 5 year old was not the typical child, no tantrums, very sweet, so I got lucky with him. Our 3 year old is more the typical child & I have no idea how to deal with him. He turned 3 in November but still won't potty-train. He's very inconsistent with it, some days he wants to go but most days he downright refuses. He refuses to go at daycare & they want to move him down to the 2 year old room for a few weeks to see if he'll pick it up. Not sure what to think about that one.
The other issues I have with him are that he will cry at the drop of a hat. If it's 10am & he wants lunch and I say, wait until lunch - cry. If I am in the other room & he wants something and I say, I'm coming in just a minute - cry. He cries about everything & immediately after saying no or just wait, he will wail. I don't know what to do about it! He also can get very mean, throwing things, biting. I try time-out but it takes an hour to get 5 minutes of quiet time-out.
He also doesn't sleep well. It takes an hour after our normal routine for him to fall asleep. He gets put in bed & he gets up to come to my room no less than 10 times. He will get up & say he's hot, or that he needs water or that he loves me. I cover him up & leave. He gets up 3 minutes later for me to cover him up again. And he gets up in the middle of the night, 2 or 3 am, to come lay in my bed. I tell him no & he screams. I don't want him waking up his little sister! I take him to his bed & he cries and screams not to go back to bed.
Please help! I want to think that this is normal 3 year old behavior, normal middle child behavior, normal behavior for a child who just got a new baby sister but I'm worried that I'm missing something or doing something wrong! I don't want to feel this way but I feel like I'm a bad parent because I can't figure him out. I don't compare him to his older brother but he was just a very easy child to raise & I don't know how to control this behavior.
Thanks for listening!
The other issues I have with him are that he will cry at the drop of a hat. If it's 10am & he wants lunch and I say, wait until lunch - cry. If I am in the other room & he wants something and I say, I'm coming in just a minute - cry. He cries about everything & immediately after saying no or just wait, he will wail. I don't know what to do about it! He also can get very mean, throwing things, biting. I try time-out but it takes an hour to get 5 minutes of quiet time-out.
He also doesn't sleep well. It takes an hour after our normal routine for him to fall asleep. He gets put in bed & he gets up to come to my room no less than 10 times. He will get up & say he's hot, or that he needs water or that he loves me. I cover him up & leave. He gets up 3 minutes later for me to cover him up again. And he gets up in the middle of the night, 2 or 3 am, to come lay in my bed. I tell him no & he screams. I don't want him waking up his little sister! I take him to his bed & he cries and screams not to go back to bed.
Please help! I want to think that this is normal 3 year old behavior, normal middle child behavior, normal behavior for a child who just got a new baby sister but I'm worried that I'm missing something or doing something wrong! I don't want to feel this way but I feel like I'm a bad parent because I can't figure him out. I don't compare him to his older brother but he was just a very easy child to raise & I don't know how to control this behavior.
Thanks for listening!