Morning conversations with my 4 y/o

[thebestofthreesixteen]

@rab1 He might like this: Voyage of the Mimi I did when I was about that age, anyway. It's a PBS show about a ship taking a census of humpback whales. It's where I learned every humpback has a unique pattern on its tail, like a fingerprint. Child actor Ben Affleck was in it.

 

[reflecksion12]

@juanmz28 Do they puke too?

 

[jessica719]

@reflecksion12 All I can think of is futurama and whale vomit making perfume. Based on that i'm inclined to say yes

 

[emily3]

@rab1 The smart ones are rough from 3-5. Rough, tough, and ready to rumble. Bring your A game dad, he's only going get better. And you sound like fun!

(A thing that helped with my smart one was making sure she had agency in as much as possible. Do you want any breakfast first or pants, before you go to school? Do you want Cheerios or egg? What type l route should we take to school? I don't know whether that's your kid's deal, but mine stopped scrapping so hard for control once she got to make an many choices as I could give her. She didn't stop entirely, but she did let up a little.)

 

[rab1]

@emily3 We use the ‘A or B’ strategy too, it definitely helped a lot, but it’s starting to wear out. Now when he realizes he doesn’t want either option he’ll just say “I can’t choose / I don’t want to choose”.

First I tried explaining that “not choosing is a choice too” but he’s too young to grok that, and had no effect. Now I’ll typically answer “okay, I’ll choose for you then, you’ll have A”. That works a bit better but can make him really frustrated. It’s a work in progress..

 

[axlbaxl86]

@rab1 Exactly! I do A,B,C. Option C is “or do you want daddy to chose?” I put a pause between A and B so he knows the difference. Seems to be working.