Snotty 3 year old

Just like it says, my 3 year old is a snot.  I'm at a loss, I don't behave that way and neither does DH or boys.  Example...tonight we went to a birthday party, the birthday boy's grandma complimented her hair bow and she made a mean face (eyebrows down, does it all the time <_<  ) and swatted at her. Grandma laughed, we tried to laugh it off and told her to quit but she swung again...so in the corner she goes.  Time was up, we told her she needed to apologize before she could go back to eating, and I get being shy, so we offered to go with her but she said no she didn't want to.  So we told her her time was up and she could go back to table eating when she apologized.  We went on eating and she must have sat there for 15-20mins before I finally got her to apologize. 
She does this mean face ALL the time when people compliment her and 50% of the time when people just say hi to her.  I've talked to her at home about how to respond, we practice at home, and she does great.  I don't get it, she compliments other people all the time! 
I've nicknamed her Bipolar Barbie because really, I'm at a loss on how to respond to her.  It's embarrassing and tonight when I put her to bed I told her if she can't start being nice I'm going to start taking her things.  HELP1!!!! :grr:  :catfight:  :help:

 

My daughter went through this too. It was horribly embarassing, especially when it happened with strangers and people we didn't know real well. I have no advice because I don't think there was ever a magic answer that worked every time. I think I handled her behavior much like you did. I know that at that age, I did a lot of prep work before we went places. I would have a little pep talk with the kids before we left the car, remimding them of behavior expextations and appropriate ways of responding to other people. That helped.

The good news is that my daughter is 9.5 now and hasn't reacted this way in years. This too shall pass.

 

My boys do this sometimes - definitely not all the time, but it is embarrassing for sure.
 
Have you tried having her look in the mirror and see what her face looks like?  Or make the face back at her and talk about how that feels to her (like that it makes her feel sad or think that the person is mad).  Not sure if she would get that, but that kind of thing seems to work with my boys sometimes.

 

Thanks. Glad to know I'm not alone. We've tried playing it out at home, explaining before we go what to say, reciprocating the face back to her and ignoring her. I've asked her why she does it and she just says "because". I guess we will just ignore and thank for her (not hitting, hitting a not cool) and hopefully she'll be 4 soon!!! LOL