Those with 3 year old Boys

Please tell me what your 3 year old boys are like. I have boy/girl twins and my daughter can be emotional but really is a piece of cake! My son on the other hand....you'd think I give him caffeine and sugar all day! He has SO much energy! He can barely sit still for me to get him dressed. He will chatter to himself constantly which is cute, but he never listens! I have to repeat myself 5-6 times before he will listen. When I load them into the minivan he hops all over the car like a monkey as I say "Please climb into your seat". I repeat myself again and again then I just loose it, grab him, and yell. I hate being the yelling mom! Surprisingly he is actually pretty behaved in public so I don't think he has any real problems, but he has so little ability to focus. Please tell me this is normal?

 

Well, my 5 year old boy acts like your boy, STILL! He never listens the first two or three times and is always on the move. I have no advice because I feel just like you do most days. I will say he's the sweetest boy ever, just difficult to deal with at times! When he is doing something he wants to do, he has incredible focus, so I don't think anyone should suggest or think about ADD or ADHD. I think boys are just boys most of the time, especially when compared to a little girl! They are always in motion and interested in everything. I do find that when I get worked up, he gets more crazy; When I am more calm, he chills out a bit. It is difficult to stay calm all the time! Oh, and people tell me he is the nicest,most well-behaved boy when I'm not around. I can only conclude it's me!! Good luck, and yes, I think it's normal.

Kelly

 

I hear you!! I have a 3 yr old boy and he is HIGH energy nonstop.

Boys will be boys

 

You are not alone! I have boy/girl twins too...and my daughter has always been the easier of the two. I mean, she has her moments, for sure but she is so much more articulate and independent.
I often hear her yelling at her brother, "I just want to have some GIRL TIME, McAULEY!!!" He just doesn't know when to stop....and doesn't understand that his sister isn't going to want to wrestle all day.
He is really into annoying his sister, just for the sake of annoying her - which turns into screaming, him being persistent and eventually someone getting hurt.
He is SO active - just going non stop. No attention span...but he has gotten into puzzles big time the last couple weeks...and he is GOOD at them too. He will be sitting in the living room on the floor, as quiet as a mouse, working hard at his puzzle till it's done! He is a good problem solver , while Zayne gets easily frustrated and doesn't like to keep trying over and over. She would rather color or play with her dolls.
I struggle with being able to divide myself and give both individual attention. I can't just do something with one, without the other climbing all over us, or trying to get involved! I realize that they both need different things - but they hate being separated - they want to be alone, but yet, they can't be for very long!

The only thing I seriously consider looking into is speech therapy - but yet, I know of a little boy whom I baby sat years ago, who wasn't understandable AT ALL...even at 4 years old. And he is fine today.
But I think McAuley's mouth works faster than his mind...he often says "I can't say the word Mommy!" when he gets stuck mid sentance on a name he can't remember.
He also has a hard time repeating things, so it has to be broken up into single words. He just talks nonstop, though....questions, whining, arguing, the same request, over and over and over. We are going to have to work on some of these things because he is starting to become very argumentative with both us and his sister.

ETA: I forgot to say that even though my ds is SO high energy - he is also SO SHY!!! It is weird, but he has a hard time even walking into a room with adults or people he doesn't recognize. He has a hard time saying hi to people..he hides alot. Once he warms up to someone, he is all over them, but he is super shy for a long time. My dd on the other hand will talk your ear off and approach new people without a problem. In fact, she has personally invited almost half the church to her Birthday Party in March!!! LOL!!

 

I think what you're describing is perfectly normal for a 3-year-old of either gender. My daughter Cali was (is) actually much worse than her twin brother, but they were/are high-energy kids. I've found that giving them outlets for this energy improves their behavior so much. When they were three I would take them to the park that has tons of play equipment and let them run around for a couple of hours everytime it was nice outside, and then they would be so much better for the rest of the day. I also got them both involved in swimming and gymnastics around the age of 3-4, which is a great energy outlet too. Be glad one half of your boy/girl twins is lower-key! Keeping up with two difficult high-energy twins at the same time was NOT easy.

 

My 5 yr old son is this way as well. It actually just started about 3 months ago. He is nonstop moving,jumping,wrestling,etc...he has just been so rowdy. Im hoping it is a phase and that he will calm down before school starts in September..? Im just waiting for longer, warmer days so he can get outside more to release some of that energy.
My 2 1/2 yr old son is much more calm and can play w/ certain things for a period of time w/out being so active, but when my older son is around DS2 definitely picks up on his energy and does everything big bro does.

 

Yup. My boys are just like yours: high energy, can't stop moving, love to annoy each other, doesn't listen at all to anything I tell them. I can tell them something until I am blue in the face and they just don't listen. When I really want them to listen to me, I have to give them some sort of a physical cue that signals, "Listen up! this is serious." I grab their arm and have them face me as I talk to them, or hold their shoulder as I talk to them.

 

I sure hope it's normal.

 

OMG! Love the underwear on the head! That's TOTALLY my boys too!

Boys will be boys...at least mine fit that stereotype to a T!

 

Sounds pretty normal. I have gotten used to the increased noise/activity level in our house.

 

Oh yes Kelby is my hyper child. Kaylee is usually the one being mother hen to him because she understands and when I get sick of yelling something for him to do, I just tell Kaylee to tell her brother and she does.....lol. The worst part is he is so mean to her at times. He will bite/hit/slap whatever and she will cry and I will yell at him and ask if he hit her and he says yes, I don't want to go to my room. Then he looks at her and says Sorry Kaylee, accident.....LOL. BOYS!!!!!!!! I think you are with the rest of us!!

 

Right there with you. However, my daughter is pretty high-energy as well.

 

I have three year old boys and they are the same way!! I also have a 6 year old DD and she was so different than the boys. They are very high energy. We just had to separate their bedrooms because they did nothing but fool around and get into trouble, they thought of things that my DD never did!

Christy




DD 11-06-02
fraternal boys 10-02-05