Question
We are so frustrated with our 5 year old daughter. We've had ups and downs before but she has generally been a sweet little girl. Now, in what seems like overnight, she has become extremely defiant, mouthy, devious, obnoxious and downright nasty. Pretty much, she fights anything we say - if we say 'do this' her response is no, I don't want to. If we say 'don't do that' her response is, but I want to. Last week when we sent her to her room for one of these various offenses, she flat out refused to go. I ignored it and walked away. A little while later she stomped up the stairs, screamed at the top of her lungs telling me to shut up and called me stupid. She spent the rest of the evening in her room. And then proceeded to do the exact same thing the following night when she was sent to her room. This weekend, she spent the entire day in her room other than a previously planned outing on Saturday afternoon and church on Sunday morning. But she just kept asking when she could get out. It doesn't seem to be sinking in why she's in her room for so long. To make it more difficult, my husband and I both work full-time and it's hard to accomplish much in just the couple hours we have in the evenings before bed. Even if we try to put her to bed early for her behavior, it usually ends up being only about a ½ hour before her other siblings by the time we finish dinner. Not sure where to go from here - are we being too harsh where she doesn't feel like she can do anything to please us, or do we need to step it up further?
