World's dumbest tantrum, part XIII

Amy's newest thing is to flatly refuse to do what we ask, or demand that we do things for her. I've heard that this type of thing is common at age 4! For instance, this morning I asked her to throw her band-aid wrapper in the trash (it was lying on the floor next to the trash can) and she said, "No, I'm not going to do it, it's too much work. You do it." I was able to jolly her into doing it by being silly, and thought things were fine.

But 5 minutes later she starts demanding that I bring her her loveys which are lying on the floor 10 feet away from her. I just said "No, you can get them yourself," and she proceeded to escalate into a 30-minute screaming fit. First she screamed for awhile about wanting the loveys (which continued to lie on the floor), then she decided she wasn't done with breakfast after all and wanted her cereal back (which we don't allow -- when you get down you are done), then she wanted me to hold her on my lap while she screamed.

All because she decided to demand that I bring her some loveys. It's like she consciously chooses to demand things that she knows I won't do, just so she can have the opportunity to have a tantrum. :headbang:

OK, I am just venting, but I'd be interested to know if I can expect this to be the big challenge of the next year.

 

Yes, we went from relatively tantrum-free for quite some time to at least one tantrum a day. I swear, Bea does paint herself into those tantrum corners so no matter what, she's going to have one. Ainsley doesn't tantrum, she just fake-cries about everything. Last night, we had an hour-long screamfest about getting nails trimmed. She wanted me to do it, but then kept saying she was scared and jerking her hand away. OK, if you are going to act like this, I'll do it tomorrow. NOOO!!!! CUT MY NAILS!!! OK, but you have to stop moving your hand. NOOO!!!! I'M SCARED!!!! Repeat 1000 times at 100 decibles of ear-piercing shrieks. I was half-expecting the cops to show up.

 

We still have some tantrums over the silliest things, but 4 is SO MUCH better!

 

Is this what age 4 is like?

:sorry: 'Fraid so. :sorry:

 

My DD just started the big tantrums and shes only just turned 3. Shes always been the 'spoiled' one and a little over the top dramatic. Lately its really been driving me crazy. I hope this ends as quickly as it started.

 

I don't want to give the impression that we haven't had any tantrums at age 3 -- we've had plenty! But it was mostly the "land mine" type of tantrum, where you don't realize (or they don't realize) how desperately they care about something until you somehow do it wrong. This is more like a deliberate power play. I can totally see it as part of the process of developing independence, willpower, etc., but it sure is annoying!

ETA: Oh, and yeah, Sarah does the over-the-top meltdowns too. In fact I've started openly referring to it as "drama queen crying." As in, "Is that fake crying [i.e., for fun], real crying, or drama queen crying?" The funny thing is that sometimes they will actually stop crying long enough to tell me which one it is. :laughing:

 

Oh yeah, we had plenty of those at ages 3 and 4, though they did taper off as we got closer to 5.

Unfortunately, kids are still completely unreasonable at age 5. This morning, I was brushing Nadia's hair for school, and I suggested that she put a tissue in her pocket, in case she sneezed during assembly this morning.

She flatly refused, saying she wasn't going to sneeze. I asked, okay, so why do you call me from all parts of the house, even when I'm in the middle of something, screaming that you have snot all over your hands and need a tissue? If you can just not sneeze, then don't do that anymore. (Granted, I was a little testy as I said this.)

Huge screaming fit ensued. Seriously, over a freakin' tissue.