Are the first three years of life really the most important?
in Psychology ·
wearybear10 said:Nothing touches him, really. You try to discipline him, and he doesn't care; you insult him, and he won't even flinch; you try to lecture him, and he just laughs in your face. Even if you put him in time-out, it means absolutely nothing to him—he’ll just go off and cause chaos somewhere else. If you attempt to explain things calmly and logically, he either tunes you out completely or pretends he can't hear a word you're saying. He is quite simply living in his own little cinematic universe, entirely unaffected by reality!
The issue isn't actually him; the issue is that you haven't established true authority, and you don't seem to know how to command it. If you believe that shouting and making a scene is the way to get results, then you are deeply mistaken. You need to possess an inner strength that makes a child feel a sense of respect—not a fear of the parent, but genuine respect.
I honestly can't explain it any other way... for instance, my own child can be absolutely impossible and refuses to listen to his father, his grandmother, or his grandfather, but when I give an order, he knows it must be followed. Everyone else in the house is baffled, wondering why he listens to me and not them...🙂