silent treatment

what do you do when your child gives you the silent treatment

one of my twin dds is 3 yrs old and has started this bad habit of giving the silent treatment, sometimes because she is not getting what she wants but sometimes I honestly have no idea what the problem is, she is very sensitive but yet has a terrible temper and the littlest slight that you don't even know you did she gets mad and lately will give the silent treatment
I try to talk calmly to her figure out what the problem is but end up getting so frustrated I have yelled a few times which I know is not helping, or I just walk away

any advice

Re: silent treatment

Are you trying to reprimand her or just wanting her to break the habit? My DD does this to DH alot, and he will tickle her and swing her and give kisses till she cracks and it helps kill her sour mood. Not sure if its the right thing to do, but we have noticed she isnt doing it so often anymore. But if she was doing something wrong and shes doing the silent treatment bc shes mad at one of us, i ignore her and she comes running.

Re: silent treatment

Explain that that kind of behavior is not allowed in our house.

My DS tried that one night at dinner and i said he could leave the table and go to bed.

he quickly changed his mind.

We are a family, familes work it out. no silent treatment.

Good luck!

silent treatment

I wouldn't yell or try to make her talk because you are giving the behavior too much power. Just say "I'm here if you want to tell me something/ talk". I might say "are you angry?" To try to get her to talk about what the issue is but then don't dwell on it. Trying to joke or distract her might be something to try too.

silent treatment

AJ has done it a few times. I dont try to get her to explain since obviously she doesn't want to talk to me. I just ignore her and when its obvious, I tell her, if you don't want to talk, then you can sit in your room, tell me when you're ok. And I put her in her room.

Same for random whining or crying. Do you want to cry? Then go to your room, let me know when you're done.

By 4 she'd tell me "I want to cry" out of the clear blue sky and she'd go to her room and tell me on the way 'I'll tell you when im done, ok?' well.. um.. ok. Then afterwards I'd ask her "Honey why were you crying?" She'd tell me that she didn't know, she just felt like she needed to. She felt a little angry and wanted to 'get it out'. Which is something I told her she could do if she got frustrated (scream in a pillow). Of course there are times she said she just felt sad or that she wanted to do something (which she didnt ask me) but was just too tired to ask and it made her mad, but I didn't know she was angry so she cried. She's so random!

Frankly though. Its a mystery. Good luck!