Parenting

HELP! My toddler is making me want to pull my hair out

As the title suggests, we’ve reached the toddler phase of our lives with our daughter. Right now she is making me want to pull my hair out. Generally most of the time she is a sweet and loving child, and loves to play with her toys and books. However recently we’ve started to notice a few changes as we creep towards the (terrible) twos. Here are the top ten things that are making me want to pull my hair out. I hope that these are a normal, and are a phase and will be a thing of the past soon.

  1. She wants “more” of everything, mostly food. Every single meal has a second helping, of which I’m putting down to a growth spurt. This morning she had 3 bowls of cereal. Is that normal? At snack time I’m followed around the kitchen by my toddler carrying her empty bowl shouting “more please”. A bit like Oliver Twist.
  2. She will no longer sit in the buggy for more than 20 minutes, unless I’m really lucky. Now that she is walking and we have allowed her to walk alongside us outside, getting her back into the buggy can be a challenge, or a wrestling match.
  3. She wants to be outside all the time. From the minute she’s awake, she’s desperate to leave the house. She’ll carry her shoes and coat, taking them to our front or back door, and then banging and shouting until we leave. Often all hell will break loose and it will turn into a mega meltdown involving crying hysterically and rolling around on the floor.
  4. Every morning before nursery and every evening before bed she wants to get everything out of her toy box. If I refuse to open it, it’s a nightmare. If I open it the entire living room is then covered in all her toys and books leaving no carpet in sight. It’s then a squash and squeeze to get them all packed away again, which I do every single evening.
  5. Similar to the point above. I’m not sure what her obsession is with emptying the cupboards in our kitchen and bedroom. I’m sure that saying “no” makes it worse. This morning she was inside, literally inside one of kitchen cupboards, and emptied the contents of a box of Rice Krispies on the floor.
  6. She doesn’t want to eat the beautiful home cooked meal that I’ve spent the past hour slaving over. Most of our food is prepared to be kid friendly, meaning no salt, no spice, so it’s then quite bland for us to eat. I know that she eats well at nursery, so why not at home. A bowl or Weetabix or Porridge is usually the preferred option.
  7. We used to love going for walks in the park. We still do. Only now she wants to go to the “park” park to play on the slides and swings. I am absolutely fine with this and I love taking her there. However we don’t go all the time, and if we walk past without going to the “park” she has a mini meltdown. I’m not sure what happens when she goes to the park at nursery, and they don’t go to the “park”.
  8. In the last week I’ve accumulated a couple of bruises on my face from having books launched at me. She loves reading, and loves having a book read to her. Only she tends to throw is at my face first.
  9. She is sick every time we go in the car. I know that she can’t help it, but it is seriously starting to become annoying. I have to travel in the back, with plastic boxes, on alert for any signs of sickness. I’ve now become a pro for catching the sick in the box (or in my hands).
  10. She is a nightmare in the mornings if she’s awake when I’m getting ready for work. It makes the entire process so much longer. Having to have a shower, wash your hair, dry your hair, do your make-up, and then get a toddler ready takes me about 2 hours. I feel like I am late on these days and arrive at the office like I’ve fled a war-zone. This also ties nicely into point 4, when I regularly leave the house looking like it’s been burgled as all the cupboards have been emptied.

So there you have it those are the top ten things that my toddler does that makes me want to pull my hair out.

Are you going through the same thing with your toddler or child? Please tell me that I am not alone and that this is a phase.

Claire x

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