my son will be 4 in august and latley he has been sooooo whiney!!! It is driving me crazy. we have a 1 year old also and i dont know if its a bit of jealosy with her doing more now or just a not so fun stage. He does not want to listen, he whines, talks back, says no all the time. he is a very good boy and responds well with time out. I do not give in to him when he is acting out. Last night at soccer he was very whiney and not listening so we left, and he did not get to play the games he wanted to. He gets one on one time at night after the baby is in bed and really is a good and very sweet sensitive boy, but then he gets these moods more and more latley where he just dont stop. what have you found is the best way to deal with the whining and talking back without getting upset? I know he is testing limits and trying to learn his boundries along with independence but boy oh boy i really do not like to hear a whiney child!
I may borrow that Rhyme!
My son does the same thing, still at 5. We tell him to use his words and big guy voice and only respond to the question/request until he asks nicely and without whining!
I have a 16 yr old daughter, only child. She went through a stage like that as well.
I had a little rhyme I would repeat over and over when she would whine... it was.. Wendy Whiner go away, come again another day
It got to the point when I would start my rhyme she would start laughing and the whining would stop. To this day, yes sometimes even at 16 they will whine.... if I just say Wendy she knows what I am talking about.
I realize there are many ways to deal with it, this is just something that worked for us.
Respond to his NEEDS when he's whining-if there is one, but try not respond to the whining itself vocally or with body gesture. I'm not sure if I'm explaining it clearly, but If he is getting attention for the whining it may become a reward situation by him getting a rise out of you. Sometimes kids just want attention even if its negative attention. I'm not saying that you don't respond to his needs or that you are negative with him at all, just that by you responding to his whining he is accomplishing his goal of getting your attention. He needs to realize that you will not give him attention if he is whining and that if he has a want or need he needs to state it without whining and that THEN you will meet his need if its appropriate. Sorry so confusing-hope this helps a little... :)
My daughter is going through that as well, I started to write it off as terrible twos but my husband wasn't having it. Anytime she whines he warns her that that's not how we communicate, that no one wants to listen to her when she acts like that. If she continues he talks to her and lets her know that it's not acceptable behavior and that if she continues she will have to go play in her room by herself. As strange as it seems she understands what we say and while its not technically time out she hates playing alone! It sounds tough but it got so bad that we just got to where we don't tolerate it at all, if she wants something she asks. If we say no, that means no. Hopefully this helps you a little, him being 4 his capacity to understand is a lot higher than our daughters so hopefully this helps!
I just tell my 3 year old I can't understand the whine voice.... and to use her normal voice. If she continues to whine I just keep saying..."what? I don't no what you're saying..... What?" It seems to be working with her. She doesn't whine as much now as she did last month. I guess she's finding it tiring to repeat herself a thousand times when she uses the "whine voice". And it's more productive to calm down and speak normally. :)
When my kids whine, I do it right back to them. Whether just answering them or saying I can't understand you when you talk like this in a whiny voice. Then I ask if they like how I am talking. I always get a no, and then I say then please stop whining to me or whomever they are whining to or about. It usually works...
(I also like that rhyme...cute)
