oh, the whining! (Does toddler whining = mommy wrinkles?)

In the last week or so, my darling little Katie has become a big whiner. If she doesn't like the song on the cd, she whines. If one of her six million forks falls on the floor, she whines. If her milk sippy is less than 50% full (does this mean she will be a "glass half empty" person?), she whines. It has gotten to the point where her twin sister, Zoe, has started to point at her and say, "Katie cry cry cry." I am finding it to be more frustrating than tantrums, which surprises me. I guess it is a nails-on-the-blackboard kind of annoying.

Can anyone share the secrets to stopping 2 year olds from whining? I called to ask my friend (who has a 3 year old) for such secrets, but while we were on the phone her daughter started whining loudly in the background, so she sadly reported that she had no advice for me.

I guess I am just venting. Anyone want to commiserate?

 

In the last week or so, my darling little Katie has become a big whiner. If she doesn't like the song on the cd, she whines. If one of her six million forks falls on the floor, she whines. If her milk sippy is less than 50% full (does this mean she will be a "glass half empty" person?), she whines. It has gotten to the point where her twin sister, Zoe, has started to point at her and say, "Katie cry cry cry." I am finding it to be more frustrating than tantrums, which surprises me. I guess it is a nails-on-the-blackboard kind of annoying.

Can anyone share the secrets to stopping 2 year olds from whining? I called to ask my friend (who has a 3 year old) for such secrets, but while we were on the phone her daughter started whining loudly in the background, so she sadly reported that she had no advice for me.

I guess I am just venting. Anyone want to commiserate?

 

No advice, but I'll commisserate. My DD, all day long, "Mama Mama Mama Mama Mama Mama Mama.........." it drives me nuts and I hate that it drives me nuts because there are SO many people out there who would do anything to have a child and be called Mama all day long. But, I'm human. It bugs after the 1,000th time. The only time she doesn't do it is when I'm holding here which I can't do all day.

Oh well. I love my baby girl. And clearly she can't get enough of me either

 

ooooh god. I;d rather go thru the first 6 months all over again than to have just one more day of the whining.

 

I feel for you, whining drives me insane. This is by no means a quick fix, but what I did (still do if they whine, which thankfully is very rare now) was tell them "I can't hear you/understand you when you whine. Ask/tell me in a nice voice and I will help you". I would also model a 'nice' voice, when it was clear what they wanted, by telling them the phrase they should use. For example "I don't like whining, if you want some juice say 'please can I have some juice'" then they would repeat it back. It took a while to sink in, and sometimes me saying they had to ask nicely would lead to a tantrum, but I would just restate that I couldn't understand and when they asked in a nice voice I would help. Also when they did ask properly I would praise them, especially if they did it without having to be reminded.

HTH

 

Twin Nanny, I am going to try your suggestion - thanks!

 

Mine are HUUUUUUUUUUGE whiners and have been since 10 months, I kid you not. My line is, "I speak some Chinese, but I don't speak Whine-ese. I need to hear a polite voice." More than two years later, it's starting to sink in. Some. It's still pretty bad, and I don't give in to whining, ever. Now we're starting to take away from their TV time. In other words, I'm starting to keep track of how many minutes they whine, and at the end of the day, they owe me back that amount of time in peace and quiet before Dora goes on. This is new, so I'll let you know if it works, but I think this only works once they're old enough to have a longer attention span/memory.