My daughter is a great kid when she is having fun. But the minute the fun ends she explodes with anger, and sometimes a full blown temper tantrum. It really lowers my desire to do any kind of special fun activity with her, whether that’s a walk to the park, or allowing her a little bit of TV time. The end result is always the same. This makes me want to say no to everything.

She asks for a snack and I give her some trail mix. She asks for more chocolate chips when she has picked them all out of the mix and I tell her no, but she may have something else. Screaming ensues. We play outside for an hour or two and the time has come to go in for whatever reason (bedtime, naptime, dinner, baby needs to be changed, etc), and she refuses to move, eventually resulting in being dragged indoors. I let her watch one episode (or two or three) of Veggie Tales and when it’s over and she melts down completely, as though I never let her do anything.

I can’t seem to find a balance between saying no to every activity that might produce a tantrum when it’s over and saying yes because I feel guilty that I’m always saying no. I hope that this is a phase that will get easier as she gets older, but as we approach her third birthday it feels like a permanent personality change and I find myself wondering what happened to my sweet little girl.