Question
I'd like to ask a question about developmental stages. My 3.5 year old has become very argumentative and almost surly in the last few months. If you say day, she says night, almost as if she has to have the last word. For example, today, she pointed at a bottle of laundry detergent and asked, "What is that?" "It's laundry detergent," I answered. "No, it's not," she instantly replied. "It's orange juice!" Now, really, I'm just curious. Mostly, we ignore her because obviously we're not going to argue about facts. Sometimes I say, "If you knew, why did you ask?" or "You keep being mean in the way you are talking to me. I'm setting the timer and you can stay in the bathroom for 5 minutes and then you can come out and speak kindly." She seems to WANT me to fight or argue with her over knowledge and definitions. Is this typical for her age? It just seemed to come out of nowhere one day.
