Help! My 5 yr old turning into a right little madam!

My meggie is the most loving child i've ever known...BUT she's turning into a spoilt little brat!

I have shared residency with my ex so i have no idea what kind of discipline she gets when she's with him. When i ask her to stop being naughty, or to put things away etc.. she's started to answer me back. I raised my voice to her this afternoon and she turned round and said ' dont talk to me like that mummy '

ooohhhhh

I went to asda today and bought her a new dress and shorts, plus some jewelery. She stayed at home with her stepdad. I did say to her when i went out that if she ate all her lunch, i might bring her back a little treat. The jewelery was to be the little treat. When i walked in, she said proudly she'd eaten her lunch and had i got her a little treat. I said i might've with a grin, she saw the George bag and said

' oh, you've bought me clothes, thats not a treat is it mummy '

Well i have to admit to having to bite my lip! I told her that i'd give the clothes to another little girl who would deserve them more. I didnt give her the jewelery for quite a while afterwards! She did say thank you though which redeemed herself.

But its getting to be a battle of wills. One minute she's a good little girl, next she's a brat wanting her own way! I do the counting thing, she knows if i get to 10, she's in the corner. But its getting to the stage where she doesnt like being told off.

How do i retain control?

my nieces are a similar age hun and they were just the same, seeing how far they can push, as soon as they realised they couldnt win they soon stopped it

wish I could help, kinda there with Aaralyn right now too. She's very strong willed and wants her own way or no way lately ... You're a softy I used to give Aaralyn to the count of 3, now it's down to 2 LOL and then it's time out or something gets taken away.

I think at this age they are just really coming into their own little personalities and just stand your ground, that's what I'm trying anyway

think she is maybe testing the boundaries again- kids are always doing it and it seems harder the bigger they get. Keep with your way of disciplining her and stick with it no matter how hard it is. do you have a sticker chart where she can get stickers for doing extras good things and when she gets maybe 5 she can go with you for a special treat or something?

Hope she returns to normality for you soon.x

hi there

thanks dazy for the pm

i'm so glad i'm not the only one! She's not exactly spawn of satan as yet but if i look on her scalp, she's got 66 happening.. just need one more! lol

how can someone as sweet as my meg turn from angel to devil child in a split second! If she doesnt get her own way, she starts crying, stampin her feet and basically being a brat! then when i do stand my ground, i'm a horrible mummy who doesnt let her do anything

Is this nature's way of preparing us for those teenage hell years?

omg hun u have just described shannon to a T.. im havin excactly the same probs with her atm..shes 7...and totally spoilt..like if i offer to take her out i say ' we will go to the park' she will come out with ' the park isnt fun and excitin its boring '

or i buy her clothes and she say ' thats not fun thats boring' so i know how u feel...she gets spoilt by her grandma alot...and i must admit i like to spoil my kids, but i havent in ages i only do it when they are really good! ( but the spoilt behaviour has stuck ) so even tho she hasnt been spoilt in a while she still acts spoilt if u get me!

another thing she's started doing as well is... farting in my face!

I was drying her bottom after her shower, she was on the bed with her legs in the air, i was leaning over drying her bottom and she let one go just as my head was close. She said she'd felt one brewing and thought it be funny to trump. Not the first time she's done it

and another thing.. we are a very kissy mummy and daughter. But she's started really 'snogging' me. The other day, she gave me a right hard snog, i couldnt get my head away, then thought it be funny to put spit into my mouth! I told her off and said if she doesnt kiss nicely, i wont kiss her on the lips again.

hard to believe that she's got the face of an angel, and the manners of a warthog! lol

Wow, you're up very late tonight... It's 10:30 pm here and I've just gotten my litte / to go to sleep. I really think it's the age thing hun. I also think the brighter they are and the more strong willed, the more we are in trouble atleast until they get a little older

Aaralyn's big thing right now is copying me in a fresh way and she was in time-out tonight for a good half hour for copying me when she was getting a reprimanding for something else. How does she behave with her father, is it the same way as with you? Aaralyn doesn't seem to be as fresh with daddy as she is with me, or atleast he won't admit it

The farting and spitting thing, Aaralyn went through that too, thinking it was funny until she was in trouble for it. I don't have a problem with her farting but when it's done to attract attention in a vulgar way.. ah ah, not happenin', she got in timeout when she was in pre-school for making spit bubbles after she was told by her teacher to stop and she didn't do that anymore after!

's you two will get through it!

hi hun

i've just woken up. Its 3.40am here and a bit stuffy in the bedroom so i've opened the window and having a cuppa before going back to bed.

In a way, i cant complain about megs too much. She's such a well behaved little girl when we're out, never have a problem with her. I personally think its an attention thing. As we have shared residency, she spends a lot of time at her dad's. As he works, she's looked after by her gran and from what meg says, granny is more interested in housework. She was like that when i was married to her son. Her Granny loves her to bits but is a typical '50s' housewife, has to polish everything within an inch of its life every single day, surprised she didnt polish the gerbils when they were alive! lol Megs has told me that she's asked gran to play with her but gran says she needs to do the ironing. This annoys me! Even half hr is too much time to take off from housework for her. So when megs is with me, she's constantly wanting my attention. We have play time then i say i need to do some jobs before we play again and she's like ' no mummy, i wanna keep playin'. It does get a bit tough at times.

Aaralyn to a T almost! I think with her it's that she isn't around her peers as much right now, so I am her constant playmate, she get's bored with me yet she wants to play with me LOL. She's also extremely sweet and loving 88 % of the time, but when she wants something and she's set her mind to it, she can be a real hard a** to deal with at 4 years old
You know what I mean!

I've considered compiling stories of what we love the most about our kids and what drives us the most nuts about our kids and see if I could make a book out of it (hey, nobody steal my idea!! ) Point being, I think we all go through this with our children many times in our lives and it's just normal coming of age stuff... God, I hope!!

Hope your cuppa was good and you're back to nice sleep now