Terrible 2's are an understatement. Help!?

DEAL WITH IT. IT'S A RESPONSIBILITY YOU HAVE. MY 2 1/2 Y/O GIRL IS THE SAME WAY AND IM LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT. SOON SHELL BE 5 AND YOULL MISS THESE DAYS.

I know raising kids is difficult and frustrating at times, especially during the toddler years sometimes. Just remember, she is not doing these things to be " bad" or to make you angry. She is still a baby, and is still learning. Spankings should be limited greatly, they really only teach the child to fear you, not really to respect you or to learn from it.

Time outs (usually one minute for each year of age) and maybe taking away a special toy for a period of time work pretty well, along with rewards as you noted. Try to get down to her level and speak in a low serious tone...get eye contact and leet her know what she did was unacceptable.

Let the punishment fit the crime so to speak as well. Don't blow things out of proportion or expect too much out of a two year old...ya know? Also, maybe you need some "breaks" from her once in awhile...like get a baby sitter for a couple of hours a week and just get away?

Just try not to let your anger get the best of you. When she is misbehaving, first take some deep breaths and count to 10 before you punish her. Many children have been seriously hurt when being punished when the parent is very angry.

You will get thru this! I promise! lol...kids can make you crazy at times thats for sure...you are not alone! There are parenting classes you can take also, to get more ideas on how to manage the terrible twos...just a thought...

You will be alright. Just love her and give her lots of positive attention and she will be fine.

I have a boy who just turned three and we have been dealing with this type of behavior since before he turned two. For the backtalking, name-calling and yelling at me stuff....I have tried soap in the mouth, which is sometimes effective for a while. But, lately the thing that works best for that is ignoring him! I start by telling him that when he can talk nicely to me, I will listen to him. Then, I ignore his behavior until he calms down and acts right. This is also the best thing for tantrums. Totally ignore it. Walk away to another room. If they don't think anyone is even around to watch or listen, they usually stop. Cleaning up....I make a game of it and say that I bet I can put away more toys than him. He gets so anxious to beat me that he starts cleaning everything up! Then, I praise him when we are done, saying how nice a job we did working together. Good Luck!

i too have a two year old little girl. she is really very good, but on the occassions that she does act up, do like the second response and walk away.. dont play the game with her by rewarding that behavior and yelling back. its attention, no matter what. kids up to age 3 dont really understand corporal punishment, ie, spanking hitting.. (i am a fan tho on a rare occassion.. hehe) so thats why it doesnt really work. also, if this is an ongoing thing, u may take a look at her diet. take all sugar out and see if that helps. sugar can really drive a child mad.. sugary treats, desserts, sugar laden snacks, etc, are only a quick (and short) way to get them to behave.. as soon as the snack leaves their hand and the sugar hits the bloodstream, look out tho.. mix juices with half water.. or just give water. if your daughter is on a really healthy diet already, definatley employ the walking away method. not only will it leave her attitude defenseless, but u will save yourself too.. and once u get a breather and get a game plan, u can go address her in a calmer, but still firm, manner. good luck lady! and know that making messes is what kids do. all of the behavior can stem back to them trying to assert their independance, even tho at our own mental cost sometimes.. :) keep yur chin up, she is a beautiful child and will eventually (maybe by her 30's) grow out of it.. :)

The first thing I would say is, set up more structure and be consistent with boundaries. Kids appreciate boundaries and respond well to knowing what they can and cannot do. It took us a while, but through repetition my son knows where to find his toys and the things that he can get in to. Everything that I am crazy about or that is unsafe is put away up high or in a childproofed cabinet. This bit of structure helped eliminate some of his frustration because it gave him a sense of control over something. He throws tantrums about twice a day and if he goes limp, I just gently lay him down on the floor and leave him alone to calm down. If I don't give in to his tantrums, they don't escalate. He usually calms down and comes to me and then we try to talk about what he wants. She may not be able to communicate her frustrations so she acts out, but if she knows what to expect or has a routine, that should help a bit.

Sorry to bear bad news but 3's are even worse. They develop attitude and the tantrums get worse due to the increased vocabulary. Hang in there and try to enjoy the good moments and keep telling yourself she won't be this age forever

Its a hard, hard age and she will wear you out without question!! Its so important to stick to what you say and be stern. If you need her to clean her toys than tell her once and when you tell her tell her why and where they need to go-"Suzy, you need to put your blocks away before you play with your babys. Someone can trip over your blocks if you leave them out". You may need to physically put oyur hands on hers and pick up the blocks with her, dont be suprised if your actually draging her along in the process. Stay, calm and cool thanking her for cleaning up. When its done just causually say good job for cleaning up and walk away. Sure its not what you meant but to her she actually had to clean the blocks and you didnt just do it, you took control of the situation and not her. At this age they are all about what they can get away with. Be in control.

I work with alot of two yr olds and right now Im nannying one and live with my two yr old nephew. I find alot that I get "I dont want to, no. etc" You need to tell her "Its not a choice, you have to clean your blocks, etc".

Oh my! I just faced the same with my 26 months old. She was like a bigger girl when she was younger and one day she just started to acted like a baby. I sent her to the corner yesterday, when time-out, threatening to throw away her favorite toys, rewarding, bribing didn't work. What she did was she screamed and kicked at me. When I asked her to say sorry to me, she kept silent. I mean she knew what the word sorry is and she definitely can say it, but she just didn't want to say it to me. She repeted lots of my words, just kept silent when I said sorry. Nothing works, till I sent her to one safe corner in my house. It took 2.5 hours (I just knew how stubborn she is and also how spoiled I made her), till she finally got very tired, hungry, and thirsty and realized that this game is not fun. (During 2.5 hours, she sang many pretty songs or murmured something, probably to comfort herself or showed me that she didn't care. She also kicked the wall and banged her head sometimes. I have to show her that I didn't care but infact I peeked her most of the time and I felt worried and so stressful; but still I had to pretend that no matter what she did couldn't attract me).

Today, I feel like I got my angel back again. She began to act like bigger girl again, not all the time but at least not acting like little girl most of the time.