Help with my 4 year old son!?

If you can prevent poor behavior and poor choices, then do it. Put the keys where he cannot get to them. And make the discipline a little more distasteful. Longer time outs where he is not able to do anything. If you choose to spank him, spank him on the bottom, never use your hands, and make it hurt. There is a HUGE difference between a spanking and a beating. NEVER give a child a beating. My oldest boy was a handful. I had a 5-gallon paint stick that I would use on his bare bottom. I never spanked him hard enough to leave a mark, but I did spank him hard enough to make it hurt. Then, after a while, I explained why he received the spanking and what he should have done/not done to avoid it.

If anyone argues that spanking is wrong, remember that when he is an adult he will have to discipline himself and the consequences of failure as an adult can be much worse than a spanking.

Get a copy of "Dare To Discipline" and read it. It is a wonderful book written for parents who want there children to behave and be happy.

Best wishes.

P.S. My oldest boy (the handful) graduated high school with high honors and is attending a university. If I can do it, you can do it!

You really sound out numbered. I understand what you mean by being an excellent climber because i can't keep anything safe from my 2 year old. And a lot like your 4 year old my 2 year old does not respond to spankings very well. My form of punishment is the corner. Now on my oldest son it never worked till i had him put his forehead on the wall and hands behind his back which some people think is is a little mean but he wold play shadow puppets so this way he is bored and its more like a punishment. Also i bring my hubby into the mix a lot. We only have the two and one on the way but we always say its us vs the kids. If he puts his foot down with me even my wild 2 year old will stop dead in his tracks. I do not disagree that you could explain why he shouldn't do things but my mom always told me that kids won't remember not to run into the street because they will get hit by a car until they actually get hit by one, but they sure as hell will remember getting a spanking if they go anywhere near that road. Like the others have said though there is a big diffrence between a beating and a spanking and i know they can really push our buttons and when you are seeing red its best to not spank so you do not put yourself in a situation of losing control. NOW my older son is the king of not caring about punishment so we have a diffrent thing for him. He does get a treat for good behavior and loses it if he is naughty. When he was younger he was so naughty that he not only lost his treat, but i told him that I take care of all the mommy things because i love him and want him to be a good little boy but if he was not going to listen and be mean to me he was going to have to do my job. One full day of him trying to do laundry and dishes and vaccuming. No tv, toys, or friends over just a full day of following me around and doing chores. That really seemed to at least show him how hard I worked to keep him happy. You shouldn't feel like a bad parent when you are busy and can't focus on just one child because at least you are trying to help him get through this stage. I know so many people that just give up on a more challenging child.

Maybe you could make a tick chart and give him a tick every time he does as he`s asked straight away. If he misbehaves he gets a tick crossed off. Ten ticks(or another attainable number) gets him a special treat. You could do this with all your children so that it`s fair, and if he sees the others earning their treats whilst he doesn`t, he might try harder. You could also be really vigilant of any time you end up arguing or reasoning with him too much. It sounds like he is doing it for attention, even though you spend alone time with him. Children are so clever when it comes to engaging you.

Wow i think of it is an exceedingly good question via fact I actually have a 8 three hundred and sixty 5 days previous grand daughter and four three hundred and sixty 5 days previous grand son who tub mutually.possibly it's time to have them end this so i'm satisfied you delivered this up.they are able to tub in distinctive loos on the comparable time yet could initiate bathing one after the other in spite of each thing the older baby is commencing up to get to a level in life the place they're going to initiate exploring there very own bodies so extra valuable to have them discover them self than one yet another.thank you for making me think of roughly this.

maybe try explaining why he shouldn't do things, and why you don't want him to do it; then ask questions like "you don't want that to happen?... do you?...etc..." when i say "you dont want that to happen?... do you?...." i'm not referring to disciplinary actions i'm talking about cause, and effect.

intellectual approach seemed to work on my boys (now 16 and 12) they're the best kids ever everyone tells us that alot my 16 year old's friends' parents use him as an example to his friends to be more like him lol