Quote Originally Posted by giraffe View Post
At 3 years old her mind is still ruled by her emotions. It is developmentally NORMAL for the child to feel extreme emotions over things that seem insignificant to us.
I don't really see the age of three being more or less emotional than any other age group.

It's our JOB to show them what is and isn't significant.

When things like this come up, I reccomend just trying the simplest solution first. Tell her "no" and then tell her what you want to do. "No little Missy... you can't have the napkin that fell on the floor. Take this new napkin". Then be done and move on.

"No little Missy... Mommy and Daddy decide what car we will have."

It doesn't have to be harsh... or in a strict tone. Just tell her what you will and won't accept and to leave it at that. We have managed to complicate parenting so much in the last decade. It really makes me shake my head. We need to stop putting adult emotions onto kids and start telling them what we want and what we will accept. It's okay to stop this in its tracks now at the young age of three without having much fuss or muss.