Whining, hitting and fighting. Oh my!

We've noticed a slight increase in whining and swatting with Emma (she sometimes makes contact and the swat turns into a hit). It happens when she is tired and when she wants her own way. Julie assures me it is just a phase, as of course my concern is she will be a hitter in kindergarten, and the teachers will have a preconceived judgement on her as a behaviour problem (I've seen this happen at my own school). But, as Julie has said, it may just be a phase. Luckily it doesn't happen often, and she goes right into time out and always apologizes later. When asked what she did wrong, 95% of the time she will say "I hit Maddie" (or whoever it may be) but sometimes she will dig her heels in and say "I don't know" when of course, she does. Still testing those boundaries!

Maddie is on a whining kick, but that has lessened recently (and, like in Emma's case, Julie told us it was a phase, she is so smart and we are so lucky she watches the girls for us)! When she forgets and does whine, we just say "say it again with a big girl voice" and she will.

We are emphasizing problem solving when they fight as well. So instead of putting one of them, or the toy in time-out, we ask them if they can think of a way to share it or play with it together. Surprisingly, they have come up with some great ideas! They put both dolls in the toy shopping cart and pushed the cart up and down the hallway together for ages. Or, if they fight over a toy dog, I'll say "how about the other is a cat and they can chase each other" and they are all for it. So while they are fighting a bit more these days (the weather, being cooped up inside) they are also learning to problem solve.