Threenager

My toddler is bright, funny, full of energy with a wild imagination. He is definitely learning how to push all of the limits as he is now 3, or a threenager as I call him. He refuses to listen, like you tell this child to sit he will stand, you tell him to finish his plate he will spit out the food, you tell him to pick up his toys he will proceed to find every other toy in the house and throw it out of its place.

We do consequences, we do time outs, we do spank (very rarely but on occasion) but it’s just not working.

He kept himself up playing with literally nothing but his imagination until 2am last night, and I’m just out of ideas. I can’t take his imagination away 😂😂🤦‍♀️ (not that I want to it’s just a joke)

We have a daily routine but now mornings are absolute hell because he hardly slept enough at night. I don’t know what to do during the days because I don’t want to reward his bad behavior and at this point he’s lost most of his privileges and we’re running out of effective consequences.

We’re not trying to be strict, hard ass parents but 3 year olds don’t get to make the rules 🤷‍♀️ I try to pick my battles wisely as does my husband but some stuff isn’t negotiable (sleeping, eating, bathing, using the potty)

We’ve tried positive reinforcement as well but the kid just doesn’t care, he will sit in time out and play and sing and talk to himself and he will literally stay there all day long (we have a current running record of 2 hours)

I’m just at my wits end. He is NOT a bad kid. He is 3, being 3, but this is my first go round with a 3 year old and I need some advice from other parents who survived these years