[Tandem mama]

Originally Posted by Psyche

What does it for me is when they keep doing the same thing over and over and over and over. Like Caden trying to make Jon cry on purpose, like in the above scenario. I get his attention and tell him to stop. And he continues to do it until I start screaming at him and make him stop.


Or the same with noise. Caden makes the most obnoxious train whistle sound and it drives me bananas.

Or just now, I was correcting Jon for throwing his sippy cup and Caden started laughing that I was yelling at him and Jon started laughing. ANd I just lost it.

I *hate* myself for yelling but I cannot stand out right disrespect and disobedience. They push and push and push my buttons until I lose it and I don't know how to stop it or change it. Short of applying arbitrary consequences.

I think I have some of the worst behaved kids and I do not enjoy them as a result.

I struggle with the ideas of disrespect and disobedience. It takes a huge shift in how we view these behaviors to correct our reaction. The less I think of things as defiance or disrespect or disobedience the easier it is to keep my cool. Crystal's post on defiance really helped me.

I also struggle with one child doing something to hurt the other. I rarely if ever yelled until I had two kids. There's so much more that can be frustrating to us when they have a sibling.