3 yo issues

[ms sunshine]

Not sure how to describe my 3yo but my ds is very independent and its like dealing with a teenager. I have read books on discipline i do put him in time out as they use that in his nursery and does seem to work but he goes right back and does the same thing. Mainly its our kittens he doesnt hurt them he just wont leave them alone he wont let them sleep he gets a but giddy waving things in front of their face and he has chased them on all fours. Its not horrible but sometimes its too much and it happens over and over again i tell him and while i am saying no he just cant help himself. There isnt anything wrong with him its not adhd or anything like that, its a mixture of discipline and not really understanding. He has just started playing by himself up until recently it was all down to me as hubby works and he just doesnt do the playing that much. But as soon as he sees the cats he is just drawn to them. Its causing a massive tension as i cant even go make a coffee hubby wants to rehome the kittens and considering we got them because my dog died it make me a little miffed. U tell him about roads or what to do in a shop he is perfect. U eat out he acts great. At home he is a monster. He just argues throws strops etc. Not all the time but some days its all day. I know there is jokes about threeangers so i am assuming this is normal and a poo phase they go through. Just wondering if anyone has gone through similar. He just doesnt learn and its the same thing every day cats and in general arguing about everything. As i say we use time outs and stars and reward charts. At the moment we are using the reward chart because he strted nursery in sept and someone hit him so he has had a few days were he has hit kids for no reason so he gets stars for not doing that.so we cant use it for anything else or it might get confusing. Just so tiring

 

[SarahBear]

If you're removing him from the situation consistently and communicating and working on teaching him why it's wrong and what you'd like to see instead, then I think it's just an obnoxious phase you're going to have to just ride out. Do the cats not defend themselves at all? I know that getting bitten or scratched was the best lesson for Violet with the cat, as bad as that sounds! She went through a phase of being scared of him because of the natural consequences of her actions and when she would get rough after that, I would tell her that she needed to stop or Skitty would scratch her. Because of her prior experience, she listened! I think she's been pretty good with the cat since about 2.5ish? My 19 month old still doesn't understand though. The cat is so incredibly tolerant with him, but he still has his limits.