Comments on: terrible two

By: JoAnne

JoAnne — Wed, 12 Oct 2005 00:50:59 +0000

Oh god i am so glad i found you – leah is 2.5 and i just had one of the worse nights with her. it started from the moment i picked her up from the babysitter and lasted til she fell asleep (2 hours later). of course i’m sure i did everything wrong while she was screaming and throwing herself on the floor- including insisting she take a bath once she had calmed down – which just got her going again. thank you all for letting me see that i am not mad – though i pray she tapers off when she’s 3

By: Bee

Bee — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 12:15:34 +0000

Hahahaha. You have just described a typical evening at my home on the other side of the world. Cape Town, South Africa to be exact. My daughter is 3 and a half and I hate to tell you this but she is still throwing those tantrums. In fact I don’t think she hit the terrible twos so I am going through the tormented threes instead. Good luck!

By: surfingfree

surfingfree — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 05:08:33 +0000

Oh, yes! I know the good old ‘let’s test mum and see how far I can push her’ syndrome VERY well. My three year old now ropes her 12 month old sister into her ‘I want it, I don’t want it’ games – double the fun for all ;) But they just want to know where their limit is and if you show them its not very far every time then they (usually) find some other way of getting your attention .. like singing really loud songs. PS. I just found your blog and I love it! Well done :)

By: Simon

Simon — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 20:48:05 +0000

Don’t worry Petite, they grow out of the screaming and the tantrums when they reach their twenties.

By: Anita

Anita — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 19:44:17 +0000

Oh, how your post took me back! One thing I learned from rearing children:

The screaming, illogical requests and tantrums are in direct inverse proportion to the level of fatigue of the mother.

By: amy

amy — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 16:12:10 +0000

at the risk of destroying your sanity, i hate to admit it but 3 is much much much worse than 2. i am the mother of twin girls, and when they were 3, i almost lost my mind.
of course, now they are teenagers, and i’m losing my mind again, but for entirely different reasons.

By: Dave of the Lake

Dave of the Lake — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 15:02:35 +0000

You know, I worked for a period of time for a major retailer here in the States, and every once in a while, you would get a child that would have a major meltdown in the store. I mean a meltdown that would make Chernobyl look like a campfire by comparison.

One day, this kid and his mom comes in. I am working on one side of the store, and the kid is way on the other side. (He was maybe 2 or 3 years old at the time.) This kid starts kicking up the dust, and I mean, screaming, crying, punching, etc. We go over to find his mother desperately trying to calm him down, but the kid will have none of it. Then he starts biting, and a host of other atrocities as his mom finally gives up and starts moving him out of the store. (Which btw, makes things worse as he doesn’t want to leave; he wants to look at toys.)

As they were leaving, I look over to my co-worker, and just say : “This is the reason that animals eat their young.”

By: Greavsie

Greavsie — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 14:18:51 +0000

Ah, the Madness.

I remember it well.

Bon Chance ;-)

By: Huw

Huw — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 12:04:20 +0000

Well, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em! And I’m sure you could scream *much* louder if needs be…

By: nardac

nardac — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 10:36:55 +0000

ok… a little late, but here I am… yes, the scones were real, and home-made! Yum. But, y’all shoulda had the crumble. That crumble is like Johnny Depp in a Jack-in-the-Box. Surprise!! *oooh*

I have little to no experience with small children, and I have absolutely no parental skills. But Tadpole is really quite an impressively adorable child.