My Three Year Old Is Driving Me Nuts.............

My son started the whole whining thing when he was about 3 1/2 and this was so unlike him. He had always been such a wonderful child. He started not sleeping through the night and wetting the bed. We couldn't understand what was going on. So my husband and I decided we would set aside time in every day to make Connor feel special. My husband is actually my son's stepfather and decided maybe we were so busy that he felt left out. We lost our baby girl around the same time so everyone was preoccupied or just kind of lost. So we would play board games or cards or just sit and talk with him. We also have a horse farm and my husband would let him help clean the barn and feed the horses. After about 2 weeks of Connor being the special one he stopped whining all together. Now that he is the big boy that gets (what he thinks) is all the attention everyone is so much happier!

Unfortunately, I'm beginning to think that most girls go through this "whining" phase. I have a four year old that started when she was 3. It is getting better, but she definitely drives me nuts with it too. One thing that really helped me was just like the first response said, I tell my daughter to go into her room until she's finished. She used to stop right away and say "I'm done". Well, now she's saying "I'm done" even when she's not because she knows that in the past, those words kept her from going to her room. So, now we have a "whining chair". It's in a totally different room from her time out corner. It seems to be working also. I'm totally with you though, it's totally annoying. I hate to say it, but I have 4 friends that have 3 and 4 year old girls, and they all say they're kids drive them nuts with whining too. One more thing though, this is something I'm thinking about trying next. I give my daughter an allowance when she picks up her room. So, I'm going to try to take allowance away from her every time she whines. I'm thinking that as much as she loves her allowance, maybe taking it away will give her the incentive she needs to stop.

take away fun activities and fun toys when she is acting up. Don't let her have sweets while she is acting up - and sweets include ANYTHING that isn't healthy at all. Sweets make a child think they have their parents wrapped around their pinky. If none of that works, take her to counseling. I'm not trying to sound rude or anything, but I have seen many parents use these methods and they have helped out a lot.

just ignore it. tell her if she wants or needs something, then she has to use her big girl words. if she continues to whine then put her in her room and tell her when she is ready to talk like a big girl, then she can come out.