How to get my 4 year old to listen?

Question

He just turned 4 today :)
Most of the time, he is a good kid. But when hes outside and its time to come home.. godddd😫😫😭😭 even if its our backyard, he always pushes back .
I’ll tell him its time to go home and he’ll say NO!! Scream, kick, run away from me.
I try to entice him with some good food inside or something but that doesnt always work. 
Does this just get better as they mature?😭 Or am I missing something here? First time mom heere..

Answer

Think this is the "Fournado" shining through. They go from 0-1000 in a split second and can either be super nice or like an evil gremlin on a sugar high. Its exhausting. It gets better, before it.gets worse again around 6years old.and they have their first mini-puberty. Where.they act like adults one minutes and the next they are acting like toddlers.

Answer

What worked with my daughter was to give a time when we were leaving, like a warning “we are leaving in 10 minutes okay?“ Compared to it being so sudden and saying “ok time to go let’s go”  I feel that helped me a lot. Not sure if that’s something you already do but :)

Answer

I would give a warning first. Maybe at 10 minutes and then again at five. I would also have a talk with him at a time when everything's going well. Remind him of what cooperation means and how it makes things easier for everyone. Empathize by saying you know sometimes it is hard to cooperate when it's not what he wants to do. But we have rules about going outside. When it's time to come inside, I need you to cooperate. If you do not cooperate when it's time to come inside, you will not be able to spend time outside the next day. And then stick to this rule. Remind him of the rules every time he leaves the house and remind him that he will need to cooperate when he comes back. When it's time to come in, give him the two warnings and then call him in and say the words cooperation please! He might not cooperate a few more times after that, but eventually, if you stick to it, he will understand. ￼

Answer

What helped my daughter (4.5 years old) listen better particularly when it’s time to leave something has been giving a pep talk about expectations before we go anywhere. I make it clear that we can’t go out and do fun things if I can’t trust her to listen when it’s time to go. I also give her verbal time warnings like “we’re leaving in 15 minutes” then another one when there’s like 2 minutes left. That or I set a timer so the phone dinging tells us it’s time to go. Occasionally I’ve had to just pick her up and take her to the car, but that’s quite rare now. Sometimes a small bribe works too, like “if you walk nice to the car, you get to pick the music on the way home.”

How to get my 4 year old to listen?

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