Is this just regular 3 year old behaviour?
Please let me tell you some of the things my three year old is doing that are driving me wild! And let me know if you think this is just being three or… I don’t know some kind of larger issue.
Getting dressed. He HATES getting dressed. This ruins our day every morning and evening. Depending on how much time we have, sometimes I have to manhandle his limbs in to the clothes and it just feels awful. I’ve tried most things like setting a timer, getting him to choose the clothes, making it a game, giving him something interesting to look at whilst dressing etc. it never lasts.
Food. He is so picky, his favourite foods are plain rice and plain Greek yoghurt, and sometimes he won’t even have those. For dinner we will serve him what we are having (anything from beef stew to risotto to pizza) with a side of Greek yoghurt, and often recently he will go to bed having eaten nothing whatsoever.
Walking. He is a very active child, who enjoys playing outside / going to the park etc. but when it comes to walking to/ from school or the supermarket or whatever, he will not walk. He will have a tantrum on the pavement or carpark until me or my husband pick him up and carry him. This has also recently started extending to refusing to walk to the toilet from the living room, when he needs to go for a wee.
Hitting and scratching. We play quite a lot and encourage rough and tumble to burn off energy, but this ALWAYS results in him scratching us as hard as he can with our nails, or hitting us, and then the fun stops. It’s horrible.
Doing the opposite of what he’s asked. If he can sense that we need him to do something, he is almost guaranteed to do the opposite.
To be clear, I love him dearly and obviously would throw myself in front of a speeding train for him, and we have absolutely no issues from preschool / socially etc. I think everyone generally considers him to be a pleasant child, but these things he does specifically to me, at home, drive me ABSOLUTELY CRAZY. Help.