This - exactly this. I mean, I have both children and dogs (corgis!), so I am very aware that they are different. If I had to choose between my babies and my dogs, sorry - babies win because, y'know, duh.

When my oldest (stepkid) used to freak out, I'd just sit down with her and hold her. I'd say, "as soon as you're ready to talk, you can tell me anything you need to. for now, just do what you gotta do."

I think there's something to that, actually - like he's maybe more comfortable at home so he lets his inner beast out? I'm not a child psych pro, so I'm just speculating. Hopefully it's a phase he grows out of, soon! Love the "Hungry Box" idea, btw, might be stealing that if she ever shows an attachment to…

It's crazy how someone you love so much can make you feel like a crazy person! Mine is so adventurous and fearless - we have to have an eye on her all the time. But we are super lucky that she responds well to our current methods of discipline.

Everyone's kids are different, so I can't sit here and say "My way is THE way!" (well, I can, but I'd be an ass)... but what I've been doing has worked really well. Every situation is different, though. Sometimes I can't just walk away and ignore her, so I'll need to remove her or something. I try to stay flexible. My…

See, my mom is severely mentally ill. My dad isn't. I had a good example, thank God, and I think that's made a big difference for me. I can't speak for my husband, but he's just an incredibly decent guy. We are absolutely committed to not putting our children through the terror we've experienced.

Ugh, I'm sorry your stepmother was evil. I'm a stepmom and I've never laid a hand on my stepdaughter. Mostly because I've never felt like I had to - she's a sweetheart and responds really well to reasoning. But if she theoretically pushed me to that point... that's the sort of thing that daddy steps in for - I know my…

Good for you! I'm sure it meant a lot to her!!

I have also made that joke, so you are in very good company!

Counting doesn't work on either of our kids. They just start running away when they hear "1" - which just infuriates me.

OMG good luck :( I've said in other posts that mine is normally a little angel, especially compared with most of the other kids I know of around her age...

Aww, your mom sounds amazing!!

Sounds like you know exactly what I'm dealing with! Taking toys away doesn't do much yet, though... she's just not really into toys. And she's ordinarily a super awesome and easy kid... but she's also super strong-willed, which means we definitely have our difficult moments!

Agreed completely, When we can get ahead of a tantrum, we do - and it's awesome! But it's not gonna be perfect cause they suck at communicating and sometimes we miss signs!

My older kid (a stepkid) is extraordinarily well behaved, so we feel pretty good about what we're doing! I'm glad to hear it worked well for you, too - I felt the same way about resorting to spanking. Also had some really unpleasant memories of my mother terrorizing me, so I figured I should go with my instincts and no…

Yup - and you've got to remember that even though it sounds easy, it isn't always gonna be. Especially since you have to be really consistent with your reaction to their behavior.

Yep. And I feel like it's better if they come to understand what good behavior is and how to do it on their own, rather than just doing it because mommy and daddy get mad if they don't.

Kids are way more clever than we give them credit for!!

Like I said, it's been working for us :) she's normally a very well behaved child, but she's still a pretty "normal" kid - so she gets worked up when she's too tired or hungry or something. I think a lot of it's about communication, since she's able to speak but clearly not really able to convey her thoughts. That…

Well, she was born very prematurely, so she's been watched like a hawk for pretty much everything! So far, her doctors have said that they're not concerned about autism (we brought it up once because a friend told us that liking Thomas the Tank was common with autistic kids)... but she doesn't care for Thomas anymore,…