Toddlers & Tantrums

It's all fun & games until Mommy says "Go to time out!". 

I'm over it. We need to get out of these Terrible Twos and get to the Terrific Three's(I made that up)..STAT!!

Now, I won't tell you how to discipline your child, because that simply isn't my place. I didn't help you create him/her, and I don't provide any monetary support, what-so-ever.  BUT I can most certainly tell you what I'm experiencing, and how I'm dealing with it.  

Tantrums
Talking Back
Testing her limits and my patience
Throwing things

It all drives me nuts.  Since her father and I are co-parenting from different houses, we try very hard to keep the same discipline plan across both houses.  It does get tricky though.  You see, at his house she is in time out for as long as it takes her to apologize for her offense.  That can literally take 2 seconds to about 10 minutes.  At my house, her time in time out depends on the offense.  It can range anywhere from 1 minute and up, depending on how crazy she's acting. I set a timer on my phone and she isn't allowed to even turn around until that timer goes off. If it is going to be a long time out, I give her a chair--I feel like it's TOO severe if I don't and I feel TOO bad. Short time out visits can be standing up.  Once it's over, I remind her what she did wrong and tell her how she needs to act or react the next time we cross the same road.  Obvi I give it to her in the way in which a 2.5 year will understand. 

For Example: 
Me: If you don't want to be in trouble, you need to be a good listener. If you don't want to be in trouble, what do you need to be?
Kiyah: A tiger. 
Me:  -_-. No. You need to be a good listener. If you don't want to be in trouble, what do you need to be?
Kiyah: A listener. 
Me: Ok. I love you. Be a good listener. 

That REALLY happened.


There are times where I will choose to tap her hand for things.  When I say tap, I literally mean I TAP her hand and she loses her mind as if she was just stabbed in the hand lol.  It really is just the IDEA of me "spanking" her that hurts her.  Even then, it's hurting her feelings, not her hand. 

To me, the biggest thing about disciplining her is that she 1. Knows and Understands why what she did was not appropriate and 2.  That she knows even though she's in trouble, I STILL LOVE HER!  She is a real life sour patch kid.  First she's sour, then she's sweet.

 This is my Sour Kiyah.

This is my Sweet Kiyah.


So, if you're in your Terrible Twos, know that you are not alone! I feel your frustration lol

I'd love to hear some of your outrageous Terrible Twos stories, so feel free to share!