Question
I have a 5 year old girl, a 4 year old girl, and a 2 year old boy. I need some wisdom on how to handle their conflicts.
My 2 year old boy grabs toys from his older sisters. I usually come in when one of the older ones yells for me, and then I have them say something like "Brother, I was using that toy, please give it back" and then they do that and then brother says "No" and then I tell him to do it and he sometimes does, and sometimes doesn't and if he doesn't he gets put into his crib, or gets flicked on the arm. This obviously isn't working, as it happens probably a dozen times a day. He hangs onto the thing he grabbed until I intervene. He also won't take no for an answer when demanding that they play with him. When they say no, he yells PLEASE and then they respond yelling NO and its a back and forth of NO PLEASE NO PLEASE until I intervene and separate all of them. They are responding in anger and yelling to his aggressive demands (and he is very aggressive, he has bitten them on more than one occasion). My 4 year old in particular is very quick to start crying and yelling in reaction to him. So then I discipline all of them and separate them into their own spaces for a while.
Things are not getting better. I am exasperated and feel like I spend all my time refereeing. I need a plan for dealing with this!
