Naughty!!!

You girls rock! im pleased to see that we are not all just walk overs. I reckon its far harder to have a strict set of rules than to just let them get away with stuff to keep the peace!

I will tell you that as a new mom , you really try EVERYTHING and every child is different! but you will eventually figure out what you WANT to do to have the respect in your home that you deserve!

I encourage you guys to buy a book called HAVE A NEW KID BY FRIDAY! it is brilliant! it reminds you that YOU are the adult and with a set of 5 rules that you introduce from monday to friday you can take the control away from your child and return it to its rightful place - to the parents..

It tells the parents to ACT LIKE IT, not just instrict it, but to lead by example. When you loose your temper in front of your child, what do you do? I promise they are watching. It gives you techiniques of when and how to put those CHOICES in place. and the book has tips after the 5 stratergies for kids up to 18 yrs, just brilliant!

Since I started this post things were actually going better with my daughter, she still had the occasional tantrum but not so bad. just before the easter weekend I was thinking to myself how will I get through the coming holidays but to my surprise she was very good.

But.... 2 dags ago she started up again. She cries the whole time and whines about everything.
Everything I do is wrong. But I think she is teething yet again and this is the cause for her mood.
She is driving me NUTS at the moment and I must admit last night I lost my temper with her a bit.
But after reading all the threads, I will try and be calm tonight and not let the crying get to me. Hopefully this will pass quickly. She is not sick, that I know.

I felt new teethies so this is hopfully the cause.

Haha, RM, good story! I bet you all of us have at least one story that is similar - though we might not all be brave enough to share it A moms gotta do what a moms gotta do.

and im sorry, but when it comes to a child's SAFETY!!! Then they must maar throw the biggest tantrum they can get out of those little bodies, but their life is not something to be compromised on. Really!

Oh RM, I had to giggle at your post. I have also had a few situations where I have gone to the extreme to win a battle and stuck to my guns on it.

But seriously the point has to be made that mom has rules and she has them for a reason, not just because she feels like being mean today

I wanted to share a story that I had forgotten about until I read this thread.

When Georgia was a wee thing she hated her hair being brushed. She would go off her face and scream and try to jump off the changing station when ever I picked up a brush to brush her hair.

You would swear I was killing her.

I tried various things and the result was always the same - child goes crazy, moms can't brush kids hair.

And then one day I had had enough of my "super nanny" approach.

I picked her off the changing station and put her on the floor - flat, then I sat next to her and flipped my legs over her shoulders and pinned her to the floor - very WWF wrestling move.

Clearly she was unhappy.

But it allowed me free access to her hair, and I had my hands free to work.

I did it every day twice a day.

I recall Kennith standing looking at me and shaking his head that I had lost the plot.

My mom was over and looked at me in horror.

I did it every day - twice a day, and I did not give in to her tears and screaming and what ever else was going on.

About a week in to it, she stopped screaming, so I lifted my legs, allowed her to sit up, she sat on the floor and I did her hair.

I then did the same thing each day - put her on the floor, on my lap and I did her hair.

We can argue the trauma, and the degradation and how I broke her spirit and and and .... but I needed to do her hair, I could no longer negotiate with her, and I used force to restrain her.

She was not hurt - though she was upset.

I realise my method of getting things done, will make some moms "defriend" me - and I do tend to do extremes when push comes to shove.

The lesson at that I think Georgia learnt at that point - is that yes, she has a strong will, and bless her for it, but sorry my love, mom has a stronger will, and is about 75 kg up on you.

I know I am being flippant, but I felt if I "gave in" on the hair thing and made it a huge issue, what would be next?

I have a friend who cannot buckle her child into his car seat because he throws such a tantrum - and he throws a maximus tantrum. So she arrives at my home with her child not buckled up because "he does not want to be in his car seat!"

Really? Really? Really!

Deja, I think girls can really scream! Sarah also hardly ever throws a full on tantrum with kicking, but she can scream!!! She hardly cried as a baby, but she is making up for it now!

I also end up laughing sometimes, I know its probably wrong, but sometimes you just have to.

I too pick my battles, we dont fight over finishing dinner, but I do have certain rules that we stick to.

Kids thrive on routine and discipline! And consistancy!

This is a very informative thread. Thanks everyone who commented on it.

I suspect I'm going to be needing it very very soon. The foot stomping has begun....