Whining!

[Michael_Howard]

I’m home with my three year old daughter today hwo BTW I absolelutely adore. I’m a small business owner so there are days when she is home with me. The one thing that drives me up the wall and really brings out the grumpy sin nature in me is WHINING I have ahrd time dealing with it and it’s like nails on the chalkboard. When I try to ignore it it gets worse, then I try to enagage her with what she wants and Daddy is doing something wrong so she’ll whine about that. It’s not all the time but somedays it seems nonstop and when I’m tired I have trouble being charitable about it. Any advice?

 

[RWMorris]

I had this problem with my four kids. I explained to them when they were very young that whining wasn’t allowed. Then whenever they did whine, I would say, “No whiny voice, remember? Ask me in a nice way.” You do this enough and she’ll get the idea, but you have to be consistent. Sometimes you’ll have to tell her, “I’ll listen to what you way but right now you have ‘whiny voice’ and Mommy doesn’t listen to ‘whiny voice’; you’ll have to go on to your room until ‘whiny voice’ is gone.”
This really works as long as you’re consistent and do NOT give in to get her to be quiet. It takes patience but is worth it.
I am a teacher and I also use this technique on my young students, some of whom are three years old also.

 

[dulcissima]

If your child is whining, definitely do not ignore her. She is trying to communicate to you that her needs are not being met. What you do need to do is alert her to the fact that what she is doing is whining, and that she is not going to get what she wants by whining. Give her your attention and teach her how to talk with you about what is going on with her. Talking about her needs is a healthy skill to develop, and it is important for her to know that the important people in her life are interested in talking to her and meeting her needs.

 

[Princess_Abby]

I’ve used, “I’m sorry, I think you’re trying to tell me something, but I need to hear your big girl voice to understand. Try again.” Repeated as necessary.