Terrible Twos of my second Son. My first was an angel and really never had any fits or tantrums at all so I always thought other parents over exaggerated the terrible twos. However I was wrong and the gods punished us for having it so easy the first time around.
My cousin's son just turned 3 and was constantly throwing fits and crying during Thanksgiving weekend. Other members of the family were all like, "He does that because they let him do that." And I'm thinking... sure, you could beat it out of him, but then you have a kid who is living in fear instead of in misery. Because, it seems like the kid is just miserable. Very easily upset. It's not like they were giving in to his demands either. They just weren't minding if he threw a tantrum, preferring to distract him out of it rather than tell him to stop. IDK, I think some kids/people just have a lower threshold for dissatisfaction.
It's the creativity that really floors me. My wife and I decided to go to the store together and leave our son home alone for a short time. We went through the whole spiel:
- No answering the door - locked at all times - Nothing sharp - Nothing hot or on fire - No open windows, flames or wounds
Basically "just sit there and play Playstation for 30 minutes".
Everything went fine and nothing seemed out of the ordinary when we got home. The next day my wife texted me "I just found an egg in the freezer."
Terrible Twos of my second Son. My first was an angel and really never had any fits or tantrums at all so I always thought other parents over exaggerated the terrible twos. However I was wrong and the gods punished us for having it so easy the first time around.
Yup I am in the middle of the terrible 2's with our son right now. Looks very familiar haha.
When he wants to tantrum he likes to get like a running start and jump up before he smashes down to the ground. Very dramatic.
I text my daughter reminders to do chores occasionally (it tends to slip her mind otherwise). So I go to text the word "vacuum" to her per normal one day and to my surprise "vacuum" autocorrected to "eaticecreamandenjoyyourlife." Needless to say she had taken the opportunity when using my phone one day to scan her fingerprint in so she had access, and she managed to sneak in and change the autocorrect for the word vacuum. I can't really say this made me regret having her, in fact I got a good chuckle out of it. And she still had to vacuum. And now I am more cautious about letting her use my phone, especially around christmas time when grownups text each other what presents they have gotten so far.
Perfect timing you guys--the wife and I are starting to have our first serious talk about babies. I'll just tell her the Bald Move fam says it's a bad idea
Man oh man. That 10-11 yr old girl tween angst will have you staring at the ceiling at night doing the financial calculations on boarding school.
Oh, you’re in for a world of fun when the 14 year old Princess Bitchface phase sets in!
Could not agree more. My oldest niece is turning 14 in 2 weeks and already has it. I love her dearly like she were my own and would do just about anything for her, but MY GOD. I had forgotten what the 13/14 year old attitude is like.
@Michelle For most of her life Lily has been the loveliest, kindest girl you could imagine (jigsaw hogging notwithstanding), but there was about an 18 month period there when I legit worried she might murder me in my sleep.
The eyeroll and the responses that seem to convey "yeah, ok, sure" (like a 'harumph') are what get me. She's not my kid so I can't put her in check when she's with her mom or dad, but she knows if she pulls it with me I will check her quick. I do try to have patience when possible though, reminding myself of what I was probably like at her age. And I *know* I was a pain in the ass, so...
@Michelle I just tried really hard not to bite, like if she was being an arsehole I’d just say in a normal speaking tone, “You’re being a bit of an arsehole now”. She’d go stomping off and slamming doors but I just wouldn’t get into it with her - she was spoiling for fights all the time. God, she was mean though - that joke John Mulaney does about 13 year olds having the skill to zero in on your personal insecurities is so true!
We thought we largely bypassed the terrible twos. But nope for us it’s the terrible 3s. Those pictures that @Hatorian are basically run of the mill for us right now. At least a couple times a day. And forget toilet training with this one. I can’t count the amount of times I’ve walked out of earshot recently just so I could say something like “Jesus Christ” or “This is fucking ridiculous.” It doesn’t help that his little sister is only 4 months old and and I’m sure all the attention she’s getting aggravates it.
But damn is he a great kid when he’s not having a tantrum. I just can’t wait for this phase to be over.
@DaveyMac I never got a tantrum phase - thankfully! I’d love to be all smug and put it down to my mad parenting skillz, but the truth is Lil was just really chilled out until she hit early teens.
My brother would throw horrible temper tantrums made worse by his face turning beet red. One time, he got upset that my mother refused to buy him something in the grocery store, and he started screaming, "Call Social Services! Call Social Services! My mother is abusing me!" My mother was a social worker and shared horrifying stories about child abuse at the dinner table. She never expected her son to use that against her in public. Luckily nothing happened except that my mother was mortified, and she made my dad do the grocery shopping (although he probably wasn't happy about that).
@pavlovsbell I watched my friend’s then 3 or 4 yo son lose it once because she cut his toast into squares instead of triangles. He went really dark red and was screaming and crying and making those noises like cats do when they’re about to throw up a hairball. My friend was going “Don’t you dare throw up! Don’t you dare throw up!” I’ve never seen anything like it - it was bonkers!
@Dee Luckily this happened before iPhones and social media. I feel like if it happened today, someone would film it, and it could go viral, even if just as a funny video.
@Dee Yeah I’ve heard it can be a real crap shoot with kids. My mom said my brother was really chill but my sister was an absolute terror. And they had the same parenting.
There was kind of a happy ending to the story -- for me, at least. With my dad now doing the grocery shopping, we got items that my mother never purchased: sugary cereals, Doritos, Oreos, etc. I never developed a taste for junk food, but at least I was no longer the weirdo kid who brought sandwiches made with wheat bread for lunch.
Comments
- No answering the door - locked at all times
- Nothing sharp
- Nothing hot or on fire
- No open windows, flames or wounds
Basically "just sit there and play Playstation for 30 minutes".
Everything went fine and nothing seemed out of the ordinary when we got home. The next day my wife texted me "I just found an egg in the freezer."
When he wants to tantrum he likes to get like a running start and jump up before he smashes down to the ground. Very dramatic.
One day, we were arguing about something trivial, I won . . . He shouted, Zoey gets pushed in front of a train.
FYI - he recently won a complete academic scholarship to college.
I text my daughter reminders to do chores occasionally (it tends to slip her mind otherwise). So I go to text the word "vacuum" to her per normal one day and to my surprise "vacuum" autocorrected to "eaticecreamandenjoyyourlife." Needless to say she had taken the opportunity when using my phone one day to scan her fingerprint in so she had access, and she managed to sneak in and change the autocorrect for the word vacuum. I can't really say this made me regret having her, in fact I got a good chuckle out of it. And she still had to vacuum. And now I am more cautious about letting her use my phone, especially around christmas time when grownups text each other what presents they have gotten so far.
Ooh, both a spoiler and a threat of what he could do to you. Genius!
Oh dear!
I cope by telling myself we're getting it all out of the way early.
I didn't realize back then Animaniacs was actually a documentary. They tried to warn us....
But damn is he a great kid when he’s not having a tantrum. I just can’t wait for this phase to be over.