Contrary child driving me nuts

pigpen

None of mine did the constant 'why?'..
My teens do not 'grunt' either.. I am pretty picky about levels of communications. Sometimes I wish they would shut up!

The contrary bit they did do.. and I seem to breed sarcastic babies!! I took the same tack as Becles and did it back..

'What a lovely sunny day'
'No, it is raining'
'OH! So it is.. the sun is shining outside this window though, maybe we should use that instead'

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Give them a full explanation of why something happens. When they're little, they could be asking why because they want to know. When they aren't, after 30 seconds, writhing on the floor in agony at being subjected to 'education' or falling over stone asleep with boredom, some of it sinks in for future reference.

And they soon learn not to ask you 'why?' unless they are sure they can handle the explanation. Don't forget that 'if you don't do your seatbelt up, I am going to come round and do it up myself and you will not be allowed to go to x's birthday party' is a perfectly reasonable explanation for why they shouldn't undo their seatbelt.


When they argue, if you come up with an unpleasant consequence - like, 'oh, well, time to tidy up your toys then, if it's nightime' or 'That's a shame, i was going to get some ice cream as I thought it was a sunny day'


Although there is no cure for a sarky, smart@rse that knows more than the other kids because they've been subjected to education all their lives at home.

If there is, please let me know

sumsup

If you think your child is being deliberately obtuse, I recommend a book called " 10 days to a less defiant child" . My son would challenge every statement I made, and had a reason to not do anything I told him! This book definately helped, you can get it on Amazon.

ariba10

She is probably just training to be a Woman.

mishkanorman

my sons sometimes do this when they want to take back a little bit of control on things, I noticed it happens when I treat them like babies. Perhaps the OP's little girl is feeling a little stifled ??

brighthair

I constantly asked why, why, why when I was a child. My Mum's favourite phrase was "Because Y is not a Z" - I think this was after I had asked it about 100 times in one day!

headcrash27

My daugher does this constantly. I agree she is doing it to wind you up, i usually just say something like "ok, whatever you think darling..." and leave it that. I try not to engage in the conversation as it annoys me and i just wind myself up!