{"id":6510,"date":"2023-01-04T10:01:12","date_gmt":"2023-01-04T15:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mlparentcoach.com\/?p=6510"},"modified":"2023-01-04T10:01:12","modified_gmt":"2023-01-04T15:01:12","slug":"everything-with-my-3-year-old-is-becoming-a-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mlparentcoach.com\/new\/washington-post\/everything-with-my-3-year-old-is-becoming-a-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything with my 3-year-old is becoming a battle"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"large-12 columns entry-content__output non-vc-entry\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><i><b>Q:&nbsp;<\/b><\/i><i>My child, who just turned 3, is smart, fun and lovely, but lately, everything has become a battle, despite how much connection and how many choices we give. How can I help with transitions? We were having luck with minute countdown reminders, but that has stopped working. How do I move things along?<\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>A:&nbsp;<\/b>Congratulations on having a typical 3-year-old: fun, smart, defiant and strong-willed. Transitions are typically tiring with many 3-year-olds, so I find it odd when parents tell me that nothing is hard or untoward with their little one. Don\u2019t get me wrong: There is the occasional 3-year-old who is easy like Sunday mornings, but they are the exceptions. More important than having easy transitions is understanding the developmental stage of your preschooler. When you understand that your child\u2019s brain is under construction, and when you understand the individuation process, your lens will change when you see these behaviors.<\/p>\n<p>The essential needs of preschoolers are rest (from separation, as well as physical rest), play (this is how they learn) and tears (to cry about what doesn\u2019t work for them). When your child can rest in their connection with you and you don\u2019t threaten them with separation or send them away, then your child is free to grow and mature.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike the 2-year-old who took all of their cues from you (the countdowns worked), remember that the 3-year-old takes this and says, \u201cHey, it\u2019s time to mature!\u201d Having opinions, being willful and doing the opposite, while tiring, are how children establish themselves in this world. And let\u2019s step back: Your goal isn\u2019t to [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"fasc-button fasc-size-medium fasc-type-glossy fasc-rounded-medium\" style=\"background-color: #64898b; color: #ffffff;\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/parenting\/2022\/12\/28\/battles-3-year-old-preschooler\/\" rel=\"noopener\">View the full article on The Washington Post<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\">Looking for more parenting support? Click&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/meghanleahyparentcoach.vipmembervault.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\">Sign up for my<a href=\"https:\/\/mlparentcoach.com\/new\/new\/new\/newsletter-signup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&nbsp;Newsletter here<\/a>&nbsp;to get this in your inbox every week!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Q:&nbsp;My child, who just turned 3, is smart, fun and lovely, but lately, everything has become a battle, despite how much connection and how many choices we give. How can I help with transitions? We were having luck with minute countdown reminders, but that has stopped working. How do I move things along? A:&nbsp;Congratulations on having a typical 3-year-old: [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":6511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[125,27,301],"tags":[322,270,443,273,953,584,762,277,585,13,8,1277,592,591,589,323,674,700,566,1310,10,593],"class_list":["post-6510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-childhood-behavior","category-parenting","category-washington-post","tag-behavior","tag-children","tag-connection","tag-development","tag-disagreeable-three-year-old","tag-meghan-leahy","tag-meghan-leahy-advice","tag-misbehavior","tag-on-parenting","tag-parent-coach","tag-parenting","tag-parenting-a-toddler","tag-parenting-advice","tag-parenting-tips","tag-three-nager","tag-three-year-old","tag-tips-for-parenting-toddlers","tag-tips-for-raising-toddlers","tag-toddler","tag-toddler-development","tag-washington-post","tag-washington-post-parenting"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Everything with my 3-year-old is becoming a battle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My child, who just turned 3, is smart, fun and lovely, but lately, everything has become a battle, despite how much connection...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mlparentcoach.com\/new\/washington-post\/everything-with-my-3-year-old-is-becoming-a-battle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Everything with my 3-year-old is becoming a battle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My child, who just turned 3, is smart, fun and lovely, but lately, everything has become a battle, despite how much connection...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mlparentcoach.com\/new\/washington-post\/everything-with-my-3-year-old-is-becoming-a-battle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Meghan Leahy Parent Coach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-04T15:01:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mlparentcoach.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/00000B6TaG96Y.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"405\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Meghan Leahy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Meghan Leahy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mlparentcoach.com\/new\/washington-post\/everything-with-my-3-year-old-is-becoming-a-battle\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mlparentcoach.com\/new\/washington-post\/everything-with-my-3-year-old-is-becoming-a-battle\/\",\"name\":\"Everything with my 3-year-old is becoming a battle\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mlparentcoach.com\/new\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-04T15:01:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-04T15:01:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mlparentcoach.com\/new\/#\/schema\/person\/74ff7f6e6196b92bb9881fbaff25225d\"},\"description\":\"My child, who just turned 3, is smart, fun and lovely, but lately, everything has become a battle, despite how much connection...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mlparentcoach.com\/new\/washington-post\/everything-with-my-3-year-old-is-becoming-a-battle\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mlparentcoach.com\/new\/washington-post\/everything-with-my-3-year-old-is-becoming-a-battle\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mlparentcoach.com\/new\/washington-post\/everything-with-my-3-year-old-is-becoming-a-battle\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/mlparentcoach.com\/new\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Everything with my 3-year-old is becoming a battle\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mlparentcoach.com\/new\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mlparentcoach.com\/new\/\",\"name\":\"Meghan Leahy Parent Coach\",\"description\":\"Helping parents. 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