HELP! My son does not listen to me at all. He is great with every one else but me. It's a constant battle with him day in and day out. I can't even take him out in public because he is so bad or we have to leave where ever we are. He is so stong willed which is great and I think that helped him while he was in the hospital for 10 weeks but I need help. Any advice out there?

Christine

My second and third children are the most stubborn people I have ever met in my life (I am not looking forwards to dealing with both of them as teenagers!). The things that have helped DH and I the most are making sure that when we make a decision, we stick to it and making sure that when we tell them to do something, it's for a good reason. We also try to make sure we have predictable consequences for each action and that they are always the same consequences. Every child has their "currency" - meaning there is always something that will motivate the child to do what you want them to. For some children, time outs work. For others, you may need to take away TV time or a favorite toy. While there needs to be negative consequences for negative actions, often it works better to focus on positive reinforcement. Kylie, my second, started having potty accidents after her older sister started school. Negative consequences didn't seem to help, but as soon as I promised a special date with just the two of us once a week if she didn't have any accidents, the accidents stopped. She was trying to tell us that she needed some individual attention. Once she got it, the action stopped.

I don't know if any of this helps you or not, but I hope you are able to figure out something that does :)