Successful update on managing terrible two's

Last week I wrote about my little girl Poppy here and how she seemed to be just starting the terrible two's only two months before she turns three.  I described how in two weeks she had turned from a little angel to a monster.

I had looked at possible reasons for it and could not see how we were doing anything differently: no change to routine, no new friends, no less attention etc. She had become a nightmare at the table, refused to eat, had started to kick (Mummy, Daddy, Sister and sofa!) and was generally becoming a pain in the bottom!

My little monster

I told you that our plans for managing it were to use the naughty cushion, no cartoons or no ipad story's.  No other punishments or threats.  We were just going to be extra strict and very consistent.

We also told Poppy that "bad girls got nothing and have to sit on the naughty cushion but good girls get lots of things".  We talked about these things being anything from play dates, trips out, presents, nice snacks etc.

Well so far so good.  It took three days of being extra strict and consistent for her behaviour to change. During those three days she spent a lot of time on the naughty cushion, didn't eat much, didn't get to watch much TV, had quite a few tantrums, lots of crying and screaming but that was it! After three whole days of this, she told me she wanted to be a good girl.  Since then she has been pretty good.  We have had no more kicking incidents, she has been much better behaved, she is eating again, behaving at the table and she has not sat on the naughty cushion once.

My little Angel

We have been giving her lots of positive feedback when she is good.  for example when I say goodnight and give her a kiss I might say "thank you for being such a good girl today, we had a lovely day didn't we?" etc.  She keeps telling me and anyone else who will listen that "good girls get lots of things but bad girls get nothing and have to sit on the naughty cushion" She says it in a voice that is happy when talking about the good girl and sad when talking about the bad girl!

So it seems to have sunk in.  We are going to stick to being consistent. I do not expect her to be a little Angel always, after all she is a child and testing boundaries is part of the job description. However, we seem to be managing it okay now.  I was really worried it was going to get out of control and her Sister would copy.  I really did not want that to happen.

Thanks for all your comments and feedback on the last post and watch this space.  Will bring regular updates!

Karen x