3 year old daughter out of control

[LeAnne_1967]

Hi, I am a 44 year old single mom of a 3 year old little girl. Recently, my daughter has been "out of control". She whines all day, cries to the point of vomiting, refuses to mind anything I say, throws tantrums, increases the volume on her whines and cries when I tell her to be quiet, throws objects and has bitten me a couple of times, but I think I may have cured that. I don't know if this is normal behavior for a girl her age. We live with her grandpa and grandma and she is the only child in the house. I have disciplined her by time-outs, no cartoons, yelling, spanking, etc., but nothing seems to work. Is this how normal kids act? I am at wits ends and I don't know what to do. Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated.

[AnnieBrooke]

Sometimes when a parent is home, she is home but not paying attention to the child.  My son sometimes asks me to "full-face listen," because I do so many other things when being home with him that he really doesn't get my undivided attention all that much.  Maybe that is part of what is going on.

[margypops]

She could be bored , do you play games with her,read books take her out to parks, the punishments you describe in fact may make the behavior worse, you can try quiet times outs as they do work ,it sounds like you do a lot of yelling and she is doing it back.Correct your behavior and she will follow ,thats what children do ,they learn from us .

[LeAnne_1967]

I'm actually home all day with her. She goes to daycare twice a week for 5 hours. Nobody has harmed her and I'm always home with her. Is it possible that I don't spend enough time with her? Could this actually cause a child to act out like this?

[AnnieBrooke]

If she's anxious or lonely for you, yelling, spanking and telling her to be quiet won't be as effective as getting to the heart of the problem.  Is she getting harmed by anyone, first of all?  (Hit or sexually abused?)  Is she suffering from separation anxiety regarding you?  Is she being ignored during the day when you're at work?