Unbelievably naughty when mom is presence!?!?

Somehow, my son is two and a half and he is super naughty only when I am with him. My parents, the maid, and also the school have already confirmed the fact. I just don't understand why as I am the only one who would punish him and so shouldn't he be afraid of me and behave even better when I present??

It becomes so irritating to cope with his outrages behavior like crashing the toys and screaming and yelling non-stop... my goodness... help!

HI Sharona,


I know just how you feel! I am in Canada right now visiting my family and my 2.5 year old son is being terrible when I am present. He was good as gold yesterday when I was out and then started whining and doing everything else again when I came home. He also does the same for his Dad and other Grandparents- good for them and bad for me.


I have talked to my Mom about it a lot and we think he is just trying everything he can to get a rise out of me. Before we came on this trip I was a bit busy and maybe didn't give him the attention he needed while using harsher discipline. His biggest behaviour is to whine and cry when he wants something or if anything goes wrong and to not listen to anything I ask him to do.

So the plan for the last few days has been for me to not react at all to his whining, unless I say I don't understand him and he needs to use his words. I used to say stop whining, and sometimes get a bit angry with him. I am also getting stricter about the consequences if he does not listen to what I ask. But when I do this I don't make a big deal. Eg- he wanted to go shopping with me and his Grandma but he wouldn't listen to me to put his socks on so after me asking him 2 times I said he wouldn't get to go if he didn't put them on. He didn't put them on, did not go and didn't seem to care at the time but asked about it again later.


I am also making sure I give him lots of hugs and cuddles as mentioned above, praise the good behaviour when I see it and try to do some fun things with him without the baby present. But I know just how you feel since he is good for everyone else. I have been very consistent with how I handle his behaviour over the last few days and it seems to be paying off.


good luck

thanks everyone for your sharings. I am just not used to having someone whinning nonstop at my ears... I am never a patient person indeed... like a big kid myself... sometimes I just don't want to admit that I am already somebody's mom... I do hug and kiss and praise my boy a lot... but I can't control myself at times... it's just very difficult to maintain the tolerance level all the time... but your sharings do help to calm me down... the good thing is that my husband is a very calm gentle guy so that I can pass my worries and frustrations to him, and my DH has more patience than myself ... oh well... everyone has some weakness, so it's a real challenge for me to boost my patience level, but I know I will overcome it one day!