In this episode: Janet responds to a question from a parent on her Facebook page whose 3-year-old is exhibiting what she describes as excessive emotional outbursts. “I’m trying to reassure myself that this is normal,” she writes. “It’s like we have to constantly walk on eggshells… I’d love some reassurance and guidance.”
Hi, this is Janet Lansbury, welcome to Unruffled. Today I’m responding to a question I got on my Facebook page from a parent who says that her three-year-old has recently started to exhibit what this parent calls some extreme behavioral changes. She describes her as cranky, easily frustrated, incredibly emotional, and she’s hoping for some reassurance and guidance.
Here’s the question from my Facebook page:
Good morning. I first want to thank you for the marvelous information and resources you provide. Your book has been very helpful and constantly brings me back to the place I want to be in raising my daughter.
My husband and I are currently struggling with the right way to respond to our daughter’s newest behaviors and I’m hoping you can point me in the right direction. Our daughter just turned three and has recently started acting out more. I know that some behavioral changes happen around three so I’m trying to reassure myself that this is normal but it seems excessive.
She’s generally cranky, yells at her dad and me, gets more easily frustrated, and is incredibly emotional. Examples: Yesterday she woke up and was happy for about one minute. Dad asked, “Are you hungry? Would you like scrambled eggs and a biscuit with honey or jam?” Our daughter whines and yells, “I said no, stop!” Then rolls around in bed whining and crying. Our daughter asks me to read a book and I say, “Sure, let me finish doing these dishes and we can read a book together on the couch.” Then she whines, “No, stop, I said I didn’t want to.”
It’s like we have to constantly walk on eggshells. She asks us to dance and then whines that we’re dancing the wrong way. She yells and throws tantrums, running away and throwing herself against the couch. It’s so exhausting. I’d love some reassurance and guidance to either nip this in the bud or at least feel confident in our responses. Thank you so much.
Okay, so what I want to help this parent do and any other parent in this situation is to shift her perspective a little bit. For instance, she says her daughter just turned three and has recently started acting out more. Then she describes crankiness, yelling, frustration, emotions, obstinate behavior changing her mind — she wants something, then she doesn’t want it. All of that, I wouldn’t even perceive that as acting out in terms of pushing limits, because she’s really not pushing limits there as a child does when they’re hitting us, let’s say, or hitting a sibling or a friend, throwing toys.
What this girl sounds like she’s doing is releasing a lot of feelings, releasing a lot of frustration, and stress, and uncomfortable feelings. Now there may be other reasons that this parent hasn’t shared for these kind of feelings to be bubbling up at this time. It’s not necessarily just that a child turns three, oftentimes there are other things going on. Maybe the child is starting school or the parent is expecting another baby or there are other things going on in the family; they’re moving houses, there’s other reasons that children have a lot of … We can just call them cranky as this mother does, cranky feelings, frustration and just angst that she needs to express.
I wouldn’t see this as behavior that you would need to nip in the bud or even try to control in any way. If it becomes pushing you, hitting you, biting or something damaging or dangerous then, yes, I would stop it there. But the feelings, the crankiness, the yelling, all of this is just her stuff. It’s not something that we as parents are responsible for, required to fix or do anything about. The best thing we can do is, as I’ve said before, roll out the red carpet and let her fall apart. Let her flounder, let her be cranky, as cranky as she wants to be.
Perceive this as healthy and not a problem. It will help a lot. This idea that they have to walk on eggshells… The reason we feel like we have to walk on eggshells is we’re trying to avoid our child going to these uncomfortable places. Yes, that’s not fun as a parent and it is going to be exhausting for sure if we’re trying to avoid cracking an eggshell or stepping on a mine field or however you want to think about it.
If we’re in that position, it’s tense for us. It’s tricky. We have to put energy into trying to fix this and make it better or avoid it. We’re going be exhausted. We’re going to get frustrated.
To use another completely different analogy, it’s like trying to dam up the flow, something that needs to flow by that actually is healthy, and we’re trying to dam it up and it’s impossible. The more we dam it up the more it gathers in intensity and has to burst even more. Letting it flow, letting it go, not seeing it as your problem is the best thing you can do.
Usually what happens is that more is revealed as to what is causing this. Maybe there are some things these parents could look at now, some factors in this little girl’s life, but it might just be she’s moving into the next level of development and, whenever there’s development, there are uncomfortable feelings. Is this unhealthy? Absolutely not.
To go into the details for how to handle this… this mother says she’s generally cranky, yells at her dad and me. Let her yell. Don’t let it bother you. Children yell. Children younger than this yell and scream. That’s how they express the feelings. They don’t have the maturity and the understanding of their feelings to be able to articulate them in words and say, “I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and everything feels, ugh, and I’m too tired and I can’t handle anything.” They can’t express it that way so it comes out as, Nothing feels right. I think I want this but I don’t want this!
I can relate to this, I still feel like this sometimes and I probably behave almost the way she’s behaving. I think we all feel overwhelmed sometimes and nothing feels right and we just want to yell at everyone or flop on the floor and be cranky. It’s okay to be cranky. It’s okay to be all of these feelings.
The examples she gives are: “Yesterday she woke up and was happy for about one minute and then dad asked, ‘Are you hungry, would you like scrambled eggs?’ Dad offered her really nice breakfast ideas and she whined and yelled, ‘No stop!'”
She wanted to blast. She just wanted to express her difficulty waking up and facing the day. Let it go.
If she says, “No stop,” I would stop. I would breathe. You might say, “Shoot, you’re having a hard time. Let me know when you’re ready to come eat and I’ll help you get out of bed.”
I don’t know what kind of bed she’s in, but you could pick her up if she’s in a crib still. Let her flop, let her roll on the floor and be cranky, it’s really okay and it will all pass more quickly if you let it, just like that river flowing by that needs to happen.
I wouldn’t rush to get her her breakfast if she’s expressing it like that. We don’t want to be doormats. We don’t want to not have our own boundaries, but I wouldn’t get angry with her either and get insulted or feel like it’s rude behavior. It’s behavior that really makes a lot of sense for a three-year-old even if she doesn’t have other stress in her life.
You can step out of the way of it a little, not on eggshells, but confidently, stepping aside to let the river flow by. Then when she feels better she’ll have an idea for something to eat.
If you think that part of this is that she woke up too hungry, you could make some food for her and let her know, “Your food’s right here when you’re ready for it.” Again, letting her have her feelings, not trying to rush out of it, not judging her for feeling like that, and definitely not judging yourself or feeling like you have to fix this and make it better for her.
Then she says the daughter asked to read a book and the mom says, “Sure,” very nicely, “Let me just finish doing these dishes.”
Yeah, so it’s tough when we get dumped on, when we’re making an effort and we’re being upbeat. It’s such a typical thing that children do, it’s that thing of taking out their feelings on the people closest to them, the people that show them the most love and are the kindest. Those are the people that they feel safe to blast on. So I realize it’s hard not to take it personally sometimes and that’s why I would be somewhat protective of yourself but I wouldn’t have a grudge either. I would just, oh well, look at your husband, share a little knowing glance, breathe and let it go, and wait, wait for her to feel better and to be ready to do something with you.
If you’re still available then, great, and if you’re not don’t feel bad about that either. If you make a nice offer like that and she says, “No stop, I said I didn’t want to,” you could say something like, “Oh, that’s funny, I thought you did. Okay,” and let her go. Again, seeing it as not a problem, nothing that you have to fix or worry about.
I realize it’s a hard mindset to truly let go and let feelings be and trust that there’s a reason and that it’s the best thing that she could be doing right there.
This is when the mother says, “It’s like we have to constantly walk on eggshells. She asks us to dance and then whines that we’re dancing the wrong way.”
Let the bombs go off around you. The other thing here is don’t dance if you don’t want to dance. If you don’t genuinely want to, if you think you’re doing it because this is another eggshell you can avoid, don’t do it. Don’t come from a place of trying to please her. Listen to yourself. Only offer things that you genuinely want to do and that you won’t mind her rejecting, you won’t take it personally. You won’t feel like, Oh, look how much I did for you!
That’s where we have to have our boundary, and have that confidence in ourselves.
And if you do dance and she whines that you’re dancing the wrong way, shrug your shoulders and know that it’s not about dancing. It’s not about the specifics. It’s just about her needing to gripe, needing to reject, needing to take it out on you. There’s so many times like this as parents where we really have to rise up tall and be that bigger person that doesn’t stoop to taking this stuff that a little three-year-old does personally.
I understand it’s hard, they seem so huge and mature sometimes to us and we forget, we all do, we forget that they’re very immature, that they don’t know why they’re behaving the way they are. They don’t want to be treating us that way. They don’t mean it most of the time. And in another mood we’d see a totally different side that is grateful for us, that tells us the truth, which is that they adore us. We can’t get that when we want it, only when they want to give it to us, unfortunately.
So yelling and throwing tantrums, running away, throwing herself against the couch, those are all the ways that intense children show their feelings. They fall apart so that they can feel better again.
She said I’d love some reassurance and guidance, so I hope to be reassuring that this is normal, there’s nothing wrong going on here, and that really all she has to do is trust it, let it be, and stop trying to avoid it in any way or make it better. Bring it on, bring it on. Let her be the crankiest girl in the universe that day, it’s healthy to feel like that.
She says it’s so exhausting. Yes, it’s exhausting if we’re trying to battle it or fix it or prop it up or dam it up. It’s going to be exhausting. Don’t buy into that role. Don’t put that on your job description. Let it go, give it up.
I hope that helps this parent feel more confident in her response.
Please check out some of my other podcasts on my website, janetlansbury.com, they’re all indexed by subject and category so you should be able to find whatever topic you’re interested in. Also, both of my books are available on audio at Audible. No Bad Kids, Toddler Discipline Without Shame and Elevating Child Care, A Guide To Respectful Parenting. Just follow the link in the liner notes of this podcast or go to the book section of my website. You can also get them in paperback at Amazon and an ebook at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Apple.com.
Also I have an exclusive audio series, Sessions. There are six individual recordings of consultations I’ve had with parents where they agree to be recorded and we discuss all their parenting issues. We have a back and forth that for me is very helpful in exploring their topics and finding solutions. These are available by going to sessionsaudio.com and you can read a description of each episode and order them individually or get them all about three hours of audio for just under $20.
Thanks for listening. We can do this.
(Photo by the wonderful Sara Prince!)
So, you say wait for her to decide what she wants to eat, but if you have to get her up and ready for daycare, school, etc. you don’t have time to wait. When every step of the day is this whining and fighting you don’t have the luxury of “working through” their crankiness. You need to have them stop and do some basic stuff like put a shirt on. My 4.5 yr old should be able to do this and can but I just want to walk out the door and leave him home alone when every step, every task, every action is met with this whining, stalling, and crankiness. How do you get them to be on task when you need them to be?
Hi, Paul. These expressions of emotions tend to blow over quickly if we can fully let go of them. Children go on and on when they sense we’re hooked in in some way, getting annoyed, impatient, trying to make it better, etc. Letting go of and normalizing these tantrums for yourself also means that you can move through them… helping your child to get dressed while acknowledging what you see: “Ah, it’s SO hard getting dressed when you feel BLEH. I know! And that’s why I’m helping you along here.” You’re welcoming the feelings while confidently “papa-bear-ing” them through. Yes, a 4.5 year old is capable of putting a shirt on, but capable and willing in that moment are two different things. Part of being a parent is embracing the physical care children need when they’re falling apart and can’t seem to get it together themselves.
What if I don’t want to help, because the child is being disrespectful and, I feel, trying to bully me? I’d rather walk to the library with a child in socks than be a doormat to manipulative behaviour. It makes me feel better if we can just get out the door and let the journey be the lesson. The child in question seems to get it perfectly well, on the whole we’re doing great.
I understand your article and try to practice your suggestions as much as I can. I’m confident holding boundaries and letting my 4 year old son have his feelings. But I’m struggling on days where he has lots of feelings and seemingly any little thing will set him off and the screaming, whining, tantrums go on and on. Honestly I just get overwhelmed with the noise and eventually can’t take it anymore and I’ll tell him I have enough and for him to please quiet down. I’m a single mom with a full time job, who is making ends meet living in a tiny Studio where the only place with a door is the bathroom.
Any suggestions how I can learn to find the space in my own head to be more resilient to the noise that comes with tantrums?
Also my sons father reappeared after a year long absence and now my son has behavior changes like hitting, biting, throwing things and screaming at me that he doesn’t love me and he only loves Daddy. I usually block his hands telling him I will not let him hit me or hold him until he calmes down, but it is breaking my heart and I so wish I was emotionally stronger and more able to handle the noise as my system just gets overloaded by it.
Wow, that’s a huge change! Must be heartbreaking but it’s probably the other way around. (With dad, who he’s angry at but scared that if he shows it, he’ll go away again)
Hard situation, wouldn’t presume to have an answer, but as to the emotional resilience and space in your head, I know that (guided) meditation often helps a LOT.
Good luck!
Can’t imagine being a single mom, so much respect for you. And he will too, one day.
Agree with the comments above. I love your suggestions on how to deal with these situations so much but struggle so much that most of them are not a reality for me as a single mom, working full time with no one to give “knowing looks” to and share in the situations. It makes it all a hundred times harder. So while I try to use your methods as often as possible I struggle with finding them not realistic to the world of single parent. So would love to see posts from other single parents who have found ways to incorporate these methods in their daily hectic lives. Many thanks.
Thank you so much for this, I really needed to hear this today. I’m literary experiencing the exact same thing with my almost 3 year old. I think possibly because of potty training, even though he was the one to initiate and is doing well. I guess change is hard.
Thanks so much for your podcasts, articles, and books they help me immensely. Your voice has become my inner voice when things get tough and it makes me feel less alone and lost in this whole parenting gig.
i have the same question. my son turned 3 and sudden height of emotions, outbursts, tantrums. plus whenever something of his will does not fulfilled. he start hitting, throwing things and whine like anything. badly need some help. extremely upset. plus i have 13 months old daughter too.
What if this is the case for my five year old? This explains her behavior precisely. The past two weeks have been me adopting your teachings. This has been going on much longer than two weeks but I’m afraid for the longest time, I have been going about it wrong. It’s never too late to change MY behavior in order for it to help HER behavior in the future right? I’m concerned for her emotional distress. Please help.
Hi Janet, how would use what you said above to accept the cranky and moody behavior of a 7 year old? Her mood can change instantly and so will her attitude. I try to say, it’s ok to be cranky but not ok to be mean when you’re feeling that way. Sometimes that helps and sometimes it doesn’t. Any suggestions appreciated.
This is really helpful, thank you! I think where we struggle is when we have a timeline and the crankiness is happening, like getting ready for daycare (our son is almost 3). How do we stay firm in getting things done before we leave (brush teeth, getting dressed, etc) when he is constantly saying “no” or getting upset? We try lots of offering up a choice (so st the count of 3 you can pick A or B), but even sometimes that is a struggle. Any suggestions?
This is an older post, so you may not still be monitoring or having this challenge, but replying in case it is helpful to another. It helped us so much to take the pressure off getting ready for daycare – we just left on time no mater what. There were a few months there where breakfast happened in the car, and getting dressed and brushing teeth happened in the parking lot or the bathroom at daycare 2-4 times a week. We just loaded up into the car, jammies and all. Yes, it was inconvenient, but it was easier than fighting the battles and it did seem to help the phase pass more quickly.
When you are letting your 1 1/2 year old express their feelings and have the tantrum /meltdown at home, should you stay in the room with them or can you go to the next room to doma chore, be near or far from them, say anything or just be quiet while it is going on? What is the best response? Thank you!
Don’t want you to get worried, but those sentences also seemed very strong and not very much about the situation.
To me, they seemed like they might be to someone who is doing something to her she really doesn’t want to. I sometimes hear the things I say to my daughter back when she’s talking to her stuffed animals. These don’t seem like regular things to say.
I’d also think and feel around since to me it sounds like she might be in an abusive situation. Maybe not, but it sounds like stuff a kid would say if someone does something she doesn’t want. If her behavior changes when you change, fine. If it doesn’t, maybe think about it.
(It’s horrible to say, but it happens so often still, unfortunately, and wouldn’t want you to look over it because the behavior is normal. I really hope I’m wrong!)
Oh my I really, really, really needed this right now. Thank you so much. I think I feel pressure to control my 3 year old or make him be polite, nice, respectful or I will be judged or thought of a bad mom, or that when he is older he will be a terror if you let them be upset. Lord help me 3 is hard on moms but it is hard for him too.
I really needed to hear this right now. My 1-year old has been having some long crying spells. We were traveling out-of-state the past 2 weeks and I feel like there’s a lot of stress from our trip he’s probably processing. I’m trying to be patient and just “be” there with him. I find it incredibly difficult. It’s very hard to just let my 1-year old cry without feeling like I need to help “distract” him (which i think only makes it worse in the long run). I definitely wasn’t raised like this and I can feel myself getting upset the longer he cries; sometimes I’m afraid I’m making it worse like he knows I’m getting upset even though I’m trying to accept it. It’s like if I knew how long I could handle it, but just being present in the moment is very hard for me. Thank you for your blog and podcasts.
That really didn’t help at all. M’y daughter is 3 and I have a 2 month old. Of course she’s reacting but am I supposed to let her yell even at night when she wakes up furious and let her wake the baby? Respect is for every child even if they cant speak. Am I supposed to let her crash the chairs on my kitchen floor cause she’s so pissed I have to nurse her brother? This works well for an only child. Also, you don’t seem to grasp that its all day, every day and about every thing. Its dangerous that a parent might burst.
Amen . Im in same boat and this article made me more frustrated. I have a baby to take care of and these tantrums give me more anxiety on top of having a baby. So yea sorry didnt find this helpful and no way we are fixing these bad feeling the child is having. I was hoping to read something that will give us ideas how to teach a child to temper their cranky feelings and how to express them differently then yelling .
My husband and I went through a trial where every time our toddler had an emotional outburst/ tantrum/ for no reason she would get a smack on the bottom.
Im not kidding it solved 90% of the outbursts. After 2 to 3 weeks it decreased significantly. She saw we as parents were in control and she couldn’t have her way.
All this other wishy washy things about letting them releasing their emotions regardless is not the solution. Toddlers need boundaries… they thrive on it.
(We have 9 kids not all were the same but with the stubborn ones we had to consistent otherwise they would walk over us. They are now older teens and are doing wonderfully)
I relate 100% with all the comments. This approach sounds good and respectful in theory, but we are doing our kids a disservice by not teaching them about controlling their emotions and doing things as we ask them to do. Not to mention as a parent, we should be teaching them to speak respectfully as we speak to them respectfully. For example, in response to the child yelling at the mom or dad about some random thing could we not say “I understand you don’t like x y z, but you cannot speak to us disrespectfully, it is not kind”. If the child is having a full blown tantrum over something, how do we teach her/him to understand its OK to have emotions, but we have to manage them outwardly for the respect of others? I realize that in the house, it may be her safe space to yell or scream, but it’s still allowing her to think she can have these outbursts everywhere. I would love to see your approach as an be-all-end-all, but I cannot understand how letting them explode teaches them how to act in public and with society in general.
This is something I needed to read today to get some reassurance on how to deal with my son’s whining.
It gave me more insight into his emotional world and I hope I will be more patient and understanding from now on.
The comments are interesting to me. It reminds me of when I taught parenting class and you answer one parent’s question only for 6 more parent’s to chime in about the specifics of their situation and how they’ve tried it and it doesn’t work.
The author specifically responded line by line to the information given by the original questioner. You can pick apart her response in regards to your own situation, but she didn’t respond to your question/situation….so of course the response may be different if she was giving advice on getting ready for school etc. The heart of the response is “all feelings are welcome, but not all behaviors.” There isn’t much this child is doing that deserves some sort of punishment as laid out by the original poster. Now, if the child was doing something harmful that would be a different story.
And back to the heart, “all feelings are welcome, but not all behaviors” this is hard enough for me to practice as a mother bc I was NOT raised this way. I can feel myself getting so angry with my daughters age-appropriate expressions of not feeling her best (whining, crying, asking for things and then rejecting them-even for long, extended periods or days), bc I was raised that children aren’t supposed to express negativity. They’re supposed to shut up and be grateful for everything or keep it to themselves. Well, that’s not really healthy for my child or me. And yes, I do hope to teach her as she gets older and has more ability that there are healthier ways to express her emotions and to become self-aware when she’s expressing things in a way that can feel frustrating to others, but as a 1-2-3-4-5 year old (especially depending on all the mitigating factors in our lives) she is not responsible for behaving like an adult. And so the reminder here was very helpful to me as I come off of 4 days of super grumpiness with my toddler while my husband is out of town and I work full time—I don’t have to respond to every outburst she has, trying to fix it or trying to correct it bc that is exhausting, overwhelming, and not helpful. I will respond to what I can in helpful, healthy ways and know that I can walk away when I need to before I’m yelling/shaming/guilting/coddling my child.
Hello!
What about a 7 year old boy, who screams, throws things and just generally isn’t wanting to move on. He’s so well behaved at school and is the kindest kid in class. He gets quite anxious. Help!
Hi Janet,
My child is 2.75 and just started to sound like the child here. I do find myself trying foolishly to be more accommodating to prevent upset and finding we both just escalate. Fortunately I already had so much you’ve said in the back of my mind so sometimes I stop and realize… It’s not about the egg being too yellow when they asked for yellow egg. It’s not about doing the shoes themself after they just asked for help. And then I get that sense of empathy that makes space for feelings instead of feeling like an abused servant. At least, when that does happen.
So here is my caveat… I feel like I know how I want to be from all your work. But now that my child is older and seems more like a peer human than a helpless babe, I find that when I’m holding boundaries I am not always coming from the confident leader place. There’s a bit of annoyance in my tone, like an American TV parent. “I can’t pick you up right now” for example gets said with a tone anticipating a battle, because I hear in their tone that once I say it they will stomp and cry and that will stress me out. Not because I’m concerned, but just because crying is grating.
Part of it is that I am already on edge so have less resilience for the crying than when I feel good in the other parts of my life. And part of it for them is probably that they are picking up on my anxiety or stress.
As an aside, we seem to be yoyoing between me hoping they’ll be independent while I get stuff done but then they are really needy… and me being present with them and then getting chewed out because “I wanted to do it myself!” (Because I opened the door so we could go for a walk…)
Any tangible tips for cutting out that last bit of annoyance from your responses if you are someone who KNOWS how to be but since you are at your limit it’s like your voice echos mainstream parenting before your mind and heart can select the right response? Also specifically related to the tension of a child suddenly being more of their own person and balancing that illusion with the fact that they are still a baby really.
Maybe a solution besides “Get more sleep” which for anyone else reading I think figuring out self care in these situations is a big priority. That and self-love and acceptance of your own inner-toddler having a melt down because things are hard.
Thanks!