can't wait until she's four

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I recently discovered even four years olds do this sort of thing. One of my old friends has a four year old and he asks stupid questions like "Why does he wake up?" about my son and I said back "Why do you wake up?" and he was asking me what this is or that is when he show me his cars or an item. He also asked me why does my son eat and I asked him does he eat and my friend kept laughing at my questions. Then I realized 'wait a minute, this is normal behavior, four year olds do it too.'

I guess every child is different and not all kids are going to be doing it at age three and then stop all of a sudden when they turn four and I am sure some stop at their own pace.

It's good your daughter finally got out of that phase and I bet you are so happy about it.

My son is 5.5 and he still asks repetitive questions or questions he clearly knows the answer to. He too will sometimes get very upset when you disagree with him. He started this around 4 and I am not sure when it will end.

I think I was 19

Sigh.......Thanks Midlife! At least we do try to work on conversation skills when he is doing this.

Thats normal up to 4yrs of age.



OH NO. She's gonna be an engineer O.o






Tried giving her a bit of dark chocolate rather than regular chocolate? Some people dont take well the additives regular chocolate have.. but dark chocolate is a-ok!

My 4.5 year old still does this. Now, though, it's about the meaning of words. I find it really annoying, but I have definitely realized that he does it as a way to make conversation. sometimes it's really cute to hear his definitions of things though!

I'm with Momsparky about infancy... my son was a VERY difficult and fussy little baby!! ! I'll keep 4 years old!

My 2 year old was an easy baby, but has been a very challenging toddler!!

just kinda concerned about her stating the opposite of what we say when she's upset.

Yeah, that would be difficult to deal with. But hey, at least she knows her opposites!!

Are you really concerned about it like it's a problem, or just irritated that it's her way to get to you when she's upset?

All kids go through different phases of being defiant or oppositional. My son's way of doing it is to just be defiant in general... I've found that he's less defiant when we have a very good routine. It's hard, though, when they pull out these kind of strange ways to be defiant... makes it hard to know what to do discipline wise. Is that what you mean?

Just irritated. If it keeps up for much longer, I'll be concerned.

What I have noticed is that my son goes through phases of doing things. Sometimes they disappear for awhile and then resurface. My son did start going through a very defiant stage around 4 and it really peaked at about 5. We are working through things and things are a little better. I wonder if you just tried agreeing with her on something that you know is not right. Just to see what her reaction would be.

One thing I do when my son tells me something that I know is clearly wrong, I will say "Oh, you must be pretending...it is okay to pretend, but you know that this is not real....." sometimes it works and sometimes it just makes him angrier.

i think with AS kids they do this telling you the opposite thing to try and upset you, because of how their thinking is pretty rigid and getting an answer they know is wrong bothers them so they figure it will do the same for you.

good theory! I think they have to test and retest different situations too, to see if the reaction will be the same every time. It must be so confusing for them sometimes.

My 4 almost 5 yo will do this too - he'll say its black when its white and he knows its white. I have taken to just telling him that I am not going to argue with him about it. It usually goes something like this:

DS: Today is Friday (when he knows very well that it is Tuesday)
Me: (In a soft but matter of fact tone) No, sweetie, today is Tuesday
DS: (getting upset) No! It's Friday
Me: (With the same calm voice) No, sweetheart it's Tuesday
DS: (Yelling loudly) No it's Friday!
Me: (same calm tone) You know that it is Tuesday and I'm not going to argue with you about this

And then I just go do something else. I find that if I just "walk away" he gets over it pretty quickly. I don't understand this behavior at all. I am concerned about just agreeing with him when he is clearly wrong about something that is not a matter of interpretation because he is so literal that I am afraid it will create confusion for him. If I discontinue the back and forth fairly quickly he doesn't get too upset and I feel I have clearly stated the truth of the matter so I don't think he is getting a mixed or confused message (hopefully!).

A cup CAN look like, and be used as, a bowl. Maybe she is noticing that, and asking for confirmation.

This bit made me laugh I just had this mental picture of a roll going down the stairs in slow motion...the dread voyage!