The whining drives me bonkers! If my daughter is using a whining voice instead of manners, I’ll correct her like Emily said. But a lot of the time she’s whining because she’s tired, and it’s wanting something that I can’t deliver – “I miss my Mimi (grandma)!” “I don’t want to go to dance in the morning!” “I want you to stay in bed with me!” “I want Santa to come RIGHT NOW!” – and no amount of reasoning with her works (and if I try to reason, it turns into a lecture, and I get even more annoyed – NO WIN). One night a couple weeks ago, I was lying next to her at bedtime, and she started whining, and all I had the energy to do was to literally repeat what she said. And it worked! She whines, “I want to see my cousins NOW!” I say (in a totally matter-of-fact voice), “You want to see your cousins.” She whines, “I don’t want to go to the doctor, I want to stay home!” and I repeat, “You don’t want to go to the doctor, you want to stay home.” It seems to give her the validation she needs, and it requires pretty much zero brain power on my end – and with three young kids, that’s about all I can manage these days!
Reply To: Toddler Tantrums
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