A bad day

[LaughOutLoud]

Last week my preschooler (will be 4yrs end of Oct) was poorly so her sleep was all over the place. Anyway she had nursery today and last night I put her to bed per routine and she kept waking every half hr. I think she slept a little and then woke and couldnt get back to sleep again. I was telling her its bedtime and leaving the room but then eventually we talked. First she was saying her legs were hurting and wanted me to sit in the room, then when I asked if she was worried about something she told me she didnt like the dark, so left the lamp on. However, I think the main issue was about going to nursery, she told me she didnt want to go. We talked and she is anxious about how the kids will behave and that she wont get a turn on the bikes. We talked it out and she fell asleep eventually.

Woke her in the morning and she was still tired. After nursery, she was so grouchy and moody with me. I wanted to do something with her so we could talk too and I pulled out a craft cupcake making toy - using glue, foam, glitter. Well she wanted to do it all herself which she did but then when I went to make one as I thought she was loosing interest, she got annoyed and knocked down the ones she had made. I told her she was not nice and was being mean - should have worded it better but the moodiness had been getting on. It went on to not wanting to use the toilet, to not being happy with her drink at dinner time, to eventually not wanting to go to bed (she was about to sleep on the couch) and get ready for bed. She doesnt let me brush her teeth - regardless of it being morning or night and she was really pushing it today so I ended up holding her hands and brushing her teeth while she screamed - not the best way but I couldnt carry on any more.

Sometimes, it just seems that the older she is getting, the more difficult it gets. Im sure I need to rethink my strategies as I did definitely feel lost and admit to not having handled it well. I felt so fed up of it but its not her fault.

 

[aimee-lou]

Try not to feel bad hun - lack of sleep and a busy day at nursery are a killer combination! Earl is the same age, and he has days like this! Best strategy I find is 'the path of least resistance' - that's not to say I let him get away with it, but I tend to be quite conservative with things and very firm. If I know that a certain thing is going to 'set him off' I'll avoid it til the last minute or not do it at all.

My other bit of advice is to take a deep breath and step back if you feel yourself falling into the same sort of mood as your LO. keeping quiet and calm allows them to see that no matter what they do, you're not going to over-react and should help them to deal with their emotions.

If she's worried about nursery maybe see how she is after a better night's sleep and then talk to her on the weekend when she doesn't have to go so that she's not emotional about it, and can talk to you properly. Maybe also have a chat at nursery and see how the staff feel she's doing. It's normal for children to go through emotional phases of development and she may just be focussing on nursery as she is learning how to process her feelings.