Is my 2 year old normal?

My husband and I have tried multiple approaches to his "disciplinary problems".. He screams at the top of his lungs for no reason, he intentionally does everything we tell him not to do.. and when he knows he's doing something wrong, we will calmly tell him not to do it, but he will continually ignore us until we are screaming at him not to do it. We know he is going through his terrible two's phase. And we will spank him when necessary, but we have reached our limit, we don't know what else to do..Are there any suggestions on what we can do to help resolve this?

Answers:
Reverse Psychology

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my daughter is just like that, she is going on 6 now with no change.
good luck

Our 3 y.o. son is the same way, although progressively getting better. I know it isn't easy, but try to remain calm. Most toddlers want an animated response (whether negative, i.e. yelling screaming, spanking, or positive reaction) and to be honest, we as adults, look pretty funny to a toddler when we are yelling and screaming. I have also tried the spanking thing, with no luck as my son has a bad temper and this just adds fuel to the fire. We pretty much have agreed to try the "ignore him" method and it's been a lot more effective than yelling, guilt, or spanking. There is no perfect answer; just try to remember that you are the adult and sometimes this is the only way a toddler has to communicate with us. Screaming and hitting are behaviors you would not accept in your child. (Right?)Then why are you using those methods to teach him right from wrong. Discipline is a form of teaching. So educate you child. Right from wrong. feeling identification. diplomacy, respect for others, show him other ways to entertain himself. teach him how to play

Normal, YES. My 2 year old has been that way since 18 months.

How to stop it? PLEASE tell me if you figure it out!

There are a few reasons why your 2 year old child continue to scream. Somewhere along the way, he has learned that if he screams, he will get what he wants. At such a young age, attention is really the driving force of their attitudes. Do you 'respond' when your child is doing something bad? You go over to him and tell him 'no', you scream at him, you look at him, etc etc. Do you 'respond' if he does something good? or are you just quiet when he's good because it's what he's supposed to do?

Essentially, you have to do things backwards. Give praise and lavish with attention when he's doing something good and ignore things that are bad. You will have to deal with screaming fits for a while when you start doing this, but if you do it right, your problems will decrease.

We tend to focus too often on what a child is doing wrong. Don't forget to show him a good thing to do instead. When he's screaming, show him how to whisper instead. Make it fun. Don't just try to take away the bad behavior, try to replace it with a better one. At that age distraction works. And don't forget to praise him for the things he does well.

A good book to read is "Manipulating Parents" by (can't remember the first name) Robinson. It talks a lot about who is really doing the manipulating -often the child. It has some great stories as well as good practical advice on dealing with behavior problems. The author has tons of hands on experience from counseling, and foster care.
Source(s):
BS in Psychology
Mom of 2 kids

You are right when you say that he is in his terrible two's. I have 5 children, they are 6, 4, 2, 1, and 5 months. So, yes, I also have a 2 year old in his terrible two's. One thing that MOST people fail to realize is that a 2 year old acts this way because he is learning about emotions and happy and angry are the first ones learned. He has yet to develop a larger range of emotions and you have to help him do this. With my 6 and 4 year old, when they started in with the tantrum, I ignored them until they calmed down. And yes, they would follow me around the house screaming and I continued to ignore them. When they calmed down, we went to the bedroom wall, where together we made a picture of every emotion you could think of, and I asked him to show me which picture that showed me how he felt. When he identified it we sat down and talked about. Once they got the hang of it the would go away and pout for a minute, and then would come and get me and say "mom, I need to show you how I feel". It works for some, hope this helps.
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Experience

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Is my 2 year old normal?

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