I feel like over the past few days I am suddenly spiraling out of control with Owen. There’s a lot of stubbornness and snottiness on his part and a lot of ensuing frustration and yelling on my part. Maybe he’s just becoming a normal 4-almost-5-year-old but he’s really been so good overall thus far that anything out of the ordinary really throws me. And he is definitely acting out of the ordinary. I almost feel like I’m at the end of my rope with this issue…and it’s only been a few days.
You know he’s always been VERY good about doing his chores (helping with Maggie, picking up toys, clearing the table) but lately he just flat out refuses to help pick up toys at bedtime (yes, I said help, because I do it with him). He starts playing with every toy, he starts playing with Katie, he whines that Katie is stepping on him or otherwise in his way, he suddenly can’t figure out how to put the boxes together, he whines at every step, and then he always says some variation of “I am NOT going to pick up toys…I don’t wanna.”
He knows talking back and being grouchy will lose him TV privileges (his favorite thing) but he continues to do it. He knows he won’t get his chore badge (which with enough missing badges he loses his weekly reward toy). He knows he will have to go to bed early and won’t get a bedtime story (which I reiterate every night—I remind him of it all EVERY night). It doesn’t matter. Tonight I even broke down and played the “I might have to talk to Santa card” which kind of got his attention and he said he didn’t want me to talk to Santa so I told him I’d give him one more chance… But every night he promises he’ll be a good boy the next night…and it doesn’t happen. I gave him a “last chance” while he was brushing his teeth, telling him he could stay up to his regular bedtime if he went back downstairs and picked up the toys and he interrupted me to tell me he’d just go to bed.
Of course, after having first been calm and patient for 15-30 minutes with all the repeated warnings and waiting for him to pick up toys on his own…and then with him being grouchy to me…I end up getting frustrated and yelling. It just sucks because he’s GREAT from the time he gets home through dinner…but the last 30 minutes make me want to throttle him.
We don’t have enough time to put toys away in the morning. We could try to put them away earlier in the day, but it’s hard because Katie just pulls them all out again anyway. I guess it’s possible he’s acting out against Tom being gone, but why now? Why the last few days?
I want to stop yelling. I don’t want to be frustrated. I want my good little boy back.
This sucks.
Maybe he is tired. Pick up toys before Katie goes up to bed………I think that is what you already try to do though. He wasn’t being a pistol when we were there! I still think you should put away half of the toys. Not so much to pick them all up then! ????
Oh, I do help him pick up. And I’ve tried picking up toys before and after Katie goes to bed…no change. I hope it’s just a short-lived phase.