The terrible twos are upon us. When my mom first told me that my toddler would eventually hit them, my response to myself was “not my kid.” Why did I think that I would totally bypass this horrific stage? My toddler has been speaking for months. I completely understand her and she is great at communicating what she wants. Until this past week. I’m not sure who flipped the switch on this precious little girl but my little angel has turned into a monster, and I mean that in the most loving way possible.
A few months ago my toddler was smacked a few times by other kids, and she, in turn, started hitting my husband and I. We both told her that hitting is not ok and she stopped it after a few “time out” sessions after the incidents’. Last week she started hitting again, and this time there is no one to blame. No child has hit her and as far as I know, she has not seen anyone being hit or hitting. She does this when she doesn’t get her way. Her impatience is something too familiar, as she takes after *ahem* her mama – but you won’t see me hitting Mr. Softee for not getting me an ice cream cone within 5 seconds.
When she first started throwing tantrums a few months ago, I would walk away from her, let her have her moment, and she would be fine within 10 seconds. More recent tantrums have been much worse and more frequent. I started to blame her tantrums on cabin fever – we have been confined to the house because we were both sick for about two weeks. I still took her out for walks and to grandma’s house on the weekends, but I didn’t bring her around other children because I didn’t want her to get them sick. Now that we are both starting to feel better, we will be going out more and visiting friends – trying to get back into our summer schedule.
Has your child gone through the terrible twos? How did you handle it?
I have a pair of boys going through it now. Let me know if you find a magic solution. I’m raising my voice far more than I ever thought I would and running out of ideas.