I've discovered that 4-year-olds are annoying.
I think this was something I knew but chose to block from my mind. My sister has seven kids, six of whom have passed the 4-year-old mark. And I'm pretty sure they were all annoying in their own ways during that 4-year-old year.
But my sweet little 4-year-old recently learned more than just blowing spit bubbles and letting the dog lick them off her lips, making long spit strings. More than just saying, "Mommy, I got a stinky butt" over and over. More than 800 requests a day to "Watch me, Mommy!"
She learned to talk back.
We just spent a week at my sister-in-law's beach house, an annual event when most of my husband's family stays and we have a big, sandy family reunion. It's a blast, it really is. And Sam always loves the play time she gets with cousins she sees only a few times a year.
But this year, with her little cousins all in various stages of toddler- and preschoolhood, they've all got behavior quirks that their parents are fighting on a daily basis. One boy who just turned 3 LOVES stealing toys and taunting the girls until they scream. Two of them are in the phase when the answer to everything is "no!" And two of them talk back while their parents are disciplining them.
Sam learned all these tricks. She will now hold a toy just out of another kid's reach and say, "Na-na-na-na-na!" She will immediately respond with "no" if you make the simplest request. And she'll tell you exactly why she's not going to do what you just told her to -- and then she'll cry when she gets punished, even though you warned her that's what would happen.
It's maddening. I've argued with her about the dumbest things before catching myself. I've tried telling her that even though she saw other kids sassing their parents and not listening to them, that's not what we do in our family and that's not what good girls or princesses do.
Any suggestions? How hard do I crack down on this? Is it something she'll get over in a few weeks when she realizes we won't let her get away with it? Or is it something that could set us up for major trouble later if we don't stop it now?
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