Zegel

Is not fun!

My daughter recently turned 5, and we've been noticing a theme in her behavior that's been around for a while, but it's getting much worse: she argues a lot. The subject doesnt really matter, whether it's getting dressed, eating, wanting something, whatever. From small things like 'I want to use a different towel tonight' to big things like 'I dont want to go to school today!'. I think the part that worries me the most is that it seems like she's falling into a habit of disagreeing with us just to disagree, not because she wants something other than what we're offering.

It started around the time that she turned four, when she began negotiating for things. The classic 'I want to do this for 5 more minutes' or 'I want to read 5 books instead of 3 tonight'. She was pretty good at it, and looking back we probably caved in to her small demands too much. It was always easier to say 'Sure, why not. You can play for one more minute', rather than deal with a potential problem. Now that's coming back to bite us in the ass. We've dealt with it by being much more matter of fact about things, stating what's going to happen and sticking to it rather than letting her negotiate. But we've been doing that for a while now, and it's like it still hasnt set in. She still has a serious fit when she doesnt get her way, and still tries to negotiate and argue her way with just about everything.

Any one out there that's dealt with a similar situation? Or anyone that has any ideas?