Need a creative way to get a 4 year old child to listen. He won't respond to the word no. Standing him in the corner don't work, spanking don't work. He is also this way at his home. Need something else to get him to mind.

Divert his attention to something else. Most 4 year olds are too old for the word NO.

If he is doing something that you don't like, give him something else to do. It is called "redirecting." You must redirect his attention to something appropriate.

Does parents agree with using the corner, and spanking ?

Are both parents working together. Or is punihsment off and on ?

At 4, esp older four, while they have a short attention span, they should listen and behave.

Father Chuck brings up some good points. Everybody has to be on the same page. If punishment is off and on or threatened but never followed up on it doesn't mean anything.

My nephew always got his way and was always mis-behaving. My sister (his mother) spoiled him and only told him to stop once or twice then gave up. My parents, would spoil him and make excuses for him, but my other sister (his ant) and I would tell him to do something and he'd do it. As he got older and tested me (he was probably 6 or 7 at the time) we were at Thanksgiving, and he started acting up with me and I flat out said to him, you can't get away with your behavior with me. I'm not your mom, and I'm not your grandparents. That crap stops with me." This got some looks but I assure you he stopped acting up. Which is funny because that is exactly how my dad used to talk to me, but now he coddles that kid.

Anyways my sister (his ant) and I did all this by ignoring him when he acted up and if he disobeyed us we didn't reward him with candy or television or video games or reading him books (which he LOVED). We made him do whatever we asked or behave in a certain way to move on to the next "fun" thing he wanted to do in life. We started this very early. But to this day he knows who he can push around and who he can't.

Perhaps explain to him grandma's rules vs. his home rules. If he acts up just say, "grandma's rules" and see if that stops him. You might want to tell your children about these rules so hopefully they can reinforce them at home. It's your job to be the parent or in this case the grand parent, not the friend. You can't take it so far to an extreme but you do have to be firm. Not once or twice, but for life.

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Originally Posted by rvess

Need a creative way to get a 4 year old child to listen. He wont respond to the word no. Standing him in the corner dont work, spanking dont work. He is also this way at his home. Need something else to get him to mind.

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I have a 5 year old that was the same until some one filled me in on 1,2,3 magic. At the start of the day we put something on the fridge like a sticker or fake tattoo and if she is not doing what she is told we say 1 and then if it keeps going 2 and then when we get to 3 it comes down and she has to earn it back. At the end of the day if she has been good or trying very hard to be good and its still of the fridge she gets the toy or whatever it may be. It has been working very well for her. My mom has also started it at her house. We go to the dollar store and get things for it there. Nothing too big. Hope that can help. Good luck

And how do you deal with them after they have gotten up every morning and dumped most of the refrigerator in the floor before you wake up and then after weeks of this they find a charcoal lighter and set their bed on fire plus burning down the whole house.