Terrible 3's, not terrible 2's!

I have found Ibu's behavior at 3 to be more trying than he was at 2. Whoever coined the term terrible two, must have had a rude awakening at 3! At least for us here, and the word around the playgroup circle is that 3 year old boys are difficult. So I am determined to get to the bottom of this and develop a new strategy. (watch him read this 20 years from now and laugh at me!).

Where we have to do some work is along the lines of communication with others, and his reaction to certain events where he feels hurt. I have decided that reminding myself not to enter any verbal battles with him is tantamount to preventing further drama. No need for me to say the last word, because I already have the last word - I'm the parent. So when I hear some talking back of some sort, I will not try to evict him from the room, but rather constructively help him to 'find a better way to say XYZ'.

Regarding feelings. The preschool stage is when the really learn how to express different emotions, and will experiment with them all day. Feelings of love gush from him daily, as do affirmations of hurt or broken ones. What is most important is to first acknowledge the feeling of hurt, anger, frustration, sadness, whatever. And to next try to ascertain what brought him into that stage in the first place. A lot of times we can sort of rework his feelings that way, but many a time, profuse statements of how his feelings are hurt/broken can seem endless. That's when you know it's a bigger issue that needs to be addressed at a non-sensitive time. **we always have this thing together where I say, let's 'do talking', and we talk about whatever is on his mind. we've done that for over a year and he loves the chance to talk about the most random things.**

Also, what is important to also get through his head is some sort of diplomacy, and that not everyone needs to hear everything all the time.

Granted, we have a long way to go on that.............