New Advice on my soon to be 4 year old

My little guy Joseph is going to be 4 in October, and we just had Mariella 2 weeks ago.

Joseph is very jealous and I try to do everything so he wouldnt be I ask him to help with diapers, bottle, story time, singing songs to his new sister.
I even have more one on one time with him I take him to Mc Donalds, Game room , Park , But .. ONCE we come back into the house he starts to act out, yelling , jumping on the couches , totally not listening to a thing that I am saying...

Help any advice .. I really need it.

My DH says he needs time outs when he not listening but I feel its just going to make him think we dont love him ..

I feel its a major ajustment and he will get over this in time .. But then when we have a bad day I think to myself HOW MUCH TIME before I go nuts ..

Re: New Advice on my soon to be 4 year old

I agree with your DH. He shouldn't get away with acting out just because he had a new sister. If you don't rein him in now, you're going to send him the wrong message about what he can & can't do.

You may want to stop including him so much in the sister stuff if it looks like it's backfiring. Sibling rivalry is completely normal - and as much as you try to avoid it, it's bound to happen.

Some of the things that worked for me is to talk alot about when Joseph (my Joseph) was a baby when I was holding Maddie. Explain that his feet were even smaller than hers, etc.

When I was nursing Maddie, I would say to her "As soon as you are done with this bottle, it's Joseph's turn with Mommy."

Also I would try to keep the same schedule as much as possible before Mariella was born.

Hope this helps!! The biggest thing is to stop feeling guilty. They're smart little buggers who will use it to their advantage.

Message edited 9/16/2006 8:28:05 PM.