Toddlers talking back

I have a three year old girl. She's a firecracker and I love that about her. She's confident. She's sassy. She's incredibly sweet. She's a smart ass. She's funny....but she's also ballsy. She's still learning on what's right from wrong. She's got a good idea, but the one thing that we're having a hard time with is her talking back.

Now..SO & I've both grown up to be respectful to our elders. Talking back would result in a beat down for the both of us. Because of our upbringing I feel we're in no shape to spank LO. I don't want to open that can of worms because I've seen how far my parents took it. With that said..I'm not against spanking at all. But how..or what do you do when your kid talks back to you?

I've put her in the corner for timeout until she calms down. We discuss why she was put there, why it's not good to do this or that, I ask for an apology, she say's she's sorry, we hug and I tell her I still love her, but she needs to be good.

We don't deal with high pitched screams or convulsions on the floor when things don't go her way. We deal with arm crossings and "hmph" and "I want it"! We'll tell her she needs to listen. She'll stick her little nose in the air and reply with "I don't want to wissen". It's just constant attitude.

What am I suppose to do? What's a good way to handle this without spanking her because every single time she responds like that I have to fight the urge to bust her little ass.

well i'd say you're doing the right thing with the timeout, i was spanked as a child and it's put me off ever doing it with my LO
If my dd screams i will let her scream, she will kick and shout and the whole street will hear (which is embarassing to say the least) but nothing will calm her down, i just leave her in her room until she stops, i haven't really thought of another way to stop it :s

Watching.

My almost 4 yr old has a major attitude problem. She's such a smart ass it takes all I have not to crack her across the mouth   she's more mouthy than anything "I want that snack right now!" "No I don't have to clean my room ill just get daddy to do it" "you make me something else you hear me? Right now mommy!" Ugh.

Quoting ℒottie ❤:" well i'd say you're doing the right thing with the timeout, i was spanked as a child and it's put me ... [snip!] ... nothing will calm her down, i just leave her in her room until she stops, i haven't really thought of another way to stop it :s"

See, I've done that, but then it gets to the point where I'm sick of her carrying on and being disrespectful. Even if it is in her room....

And timeout works. She doesn't like time out at all, and she knows once she's calm she can come out, but the yelling and rudeness...just that sense of entitlement pisses me off so bad. I don't know if there's little steps to take to get it through to her..or if this is just a phase from the pits of hell.

Quoting DifferentDay:" Watching. My almost 4 yr old has a major attitude problem. She's such a smart ass it takes all I have ... [snip!] ... "No I don't have to clean my room ill just get daddy to do it" "you make me something else you hear me? Right now mommy!" Ugh."

My four year old is like that too! "But I SAID I want another cookie!"

I usually end up telling him not to talk to me like that, and he doesn't get whatever it is he wanted until he apologizes and talks to me politely.

Either that, or he goes to time out in his room.

Quoting DifferentDay:" Watching. My almost 4 yr old has a major attitude problem. She's such a smart ass it takes all I have ... [snip!] ... "No I don't have to clean my room ill just get daddy to do it" "you make me something else you hear me? Right now mommy!" Ugh."

Did it start at 3 too or did she just start this? Cause I'm hoping 4's better for us than the 3's are...Mine hasn't hit the level of that type of disrespect yet...but I know it's right around the corner   Oh my gosh....I don't even want to think about it..

Quoting Tavi:" See, I've done that, but then it gets to the point where I'm sick of her carrying on and being disrespectful. ... [snip!] ... bad. I don't know if there's little steps to take to get it through to her..or if this is just a phase from the pits of hell. "

I think it's definitely a phase, no doubt, the 3 year old has been in and out of these annoying phases hah, maybe you could do a good behaviour chart? a small present for being good after a certain amount of stickers?

We do "wall time". When our 4 year old talks back. Usually works but when he's having one of his brat days we do spank occassionally. Nothing harsh but enough to know he went too far. That straightens him right out. But I respect that you choose not to spank.

<blockquote><b>Quoting Rain (aka Mama):</b>" My four year old is like that too! "But I SAID I want another cookie!" I usually end up telling him ... [snip!] ... get whatever it is he wanted until he apologizes and talks to me politely. Either that, or he goes to time out in his room."</blockquote>




Yes she gets lots n lots n lots of time outs. I hate spanking but will if she's outta control. Her fav thing is to spit at me. It used to be hiss like a cat, then growl like a monster, now it's spitting. And the smirk on her face afterwards... It's enough to make ya wanna blow ur lid completely. "Go clean ur room" -no. "Clean that room or no tablet tomorrow" -spit.

Yea started at 3 unfortunately.

My daughter will be 4 this week and I have the exact same problem. She's all aattitude. Usually if she throws aa fit I put her in her room uuntil she calms down.I also tell her that if shes not good she won't get something that sshe wants like say a cookie after supper or to play outside after lunch. Thats usually enough to do the trick but on the oodd occasion its nor. Now I don't like doing it and I don't really consider it spanking because I do it much differently then when I was brought up. Sometimes it takes a llittle tap on the bum, not anywhere near hard eenough to hhurt her but enough to break her heart a little. It works because it doesn't hurt her but it makes her realize that she ccan't act like that and there's consequences when she does.