Sarah is my whiny child. 24 hours a day, non stop, no matter what, every day.
It is driving me crazy. Crazier. Craziest.
It just makes me plum insane with frustration on how to get her to stop!
Currently she is whining because she wants the penguin that her sister has. There are two penguins. One is black and white and with a yellow beak. The other is black and white with a yellow beak.
In fact, to the trained eye, they are identical. The exact same. Not a stitch different. We actually bought them in the same store at the exact time in the exact location just to avoid such scenes.
But to Sarah, they are different. Why, you ask? Because her sister is holding the one she wants despite the fact that the other one is sitting right in front of her face.
So she is whining. Again.
My goal as a mother is to stay as sober as possible, as fair as possible, and as integrated as possible with my children every day. But it adds a whole new dynamic to the household when one can not form a sentence without whining.
Making me want to run screaming for the house to the nearest retail shop to spend money I don’t have.
So what can I do? How do I deal with a whiney child?
I could whine along with her. But my husband says I already do this so – assuming he is right {well of course he is… he is all knowing as most men are!} – she is moot to that and really, it’s just annoying compounding annoying.
I could send her to her room and at least muffle the whines? Yes, but silly me taught the girls how to open doors and it is illegal in 43 states to lock them in.
I could calmly talk to her and explain how whining is not a solution. Yes… this could work. If I could get her to stop whining long enough to actually talk to her! Sadly, that is not a joke!
I can stick a cup of milk in her mouth, turn on the TV, and let her brain rot to the tune of whatever character happens to be learning some lesson at that time. Tempting. Oh so tempting.
Or I can reach out to my readers and beg, on bended knee, for help in finding a reliable set of earplugs, a nanny who will work for free, or a way to – legally – deal with my child that can not even go to the bathroom without whining to me that she wants me to carry her there!
**Originally Published 07/1/2011**
I’ve told kids before that I cannot hear/understand them when they whine and then you have to act absolutely deaf unless they speak in a normal tone of voice. It can be hard, but it’s never taken long for them to figure out they won’t get what they want until they change their tone.
I do do that and was just thinking “Did I put that I ignore her?” LOL I
will say though, maybe I just do not have the patience to wait for her to
“get it” but when she whines all day, I have less inclination to wait for
her to understand that she will finally get a reaction if she stops! I need
to man up and try it again! Thank you! :)
I had an aunt that would whisper. The louder we wined and yelled and drover her nuts the softer she whispered. Eventually we would have to shut the heck up and listen if we wanted to hear her. It worked.
Haven’t had the “whine dilemma” at our house so I’m just going to make something up that sounds good, lol. Reward non-whiney requests and discourage whiney requests. Easier said than done, I know – good luck!
LOL! You haven’t? You are so lucky!
Yes- we are big rewarders of good behavior. Maybe I need to step it up for
her in particular! Though I will say, the quieter I am, as another
commenter suggested, the faster she seems to stop! That and a bag od M&M’s
might do it :D
Oh, how I abhor the ‘whinese’. No matter how often we declare that we are not fluent, there is still those children who try to speak it to us. :)
I try to focus on that one-on-one time. It seems to help some with the ‘whinese’.
Lori, since your child is older now, I’m hoping the problem no longer exists. I have the same problem. I find that early in the day it’s easy to be patient and talk calmly, asking her to talk to me in a normal tone of voice. It’s after 12 hours of whining, when it’s hard to think straight, that my patience goes out the window. I particularly like Rachel’s whispering idea. I must remember to try that. I find that it’s her lack of sleep that makes it worse. We’ve had big sleep issues in our house, which we’ve been getting to the bottom of. You might like to read about them as they may help you or some other parents who are having similar problems: https://yvonnemcevaddy.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/sleep-glorious-sleep-part-5/