Battle with a 3 year old

Lately, I have been battling with my soon-to-be 3 year old. He is learning to push his boundaries more than before, throw tantrums and pull up a fuss over the smallest things. I make it a habit not to reward bad behaviour which means if he kicks up a fuss about something, I would not give in to his demands and walk away until he stops and changes his behaviour.

This afternoon, he insisted on sitting on the couch for lunch. I refused and told him he had to be on his feeding table. He started pulling up a fuss, cried, threw tantrums, raised his voice...etc. We were running late for his nursery session but I had to tolerate the lost time and stick to my rules. I refused to feed him and was ready to send him to school without lunch. It felt 'cruel' at that moment but I knew it would be worse if I gave in to his demands and bent my rules.

I left him alone to whine and cry and walked away. He finally calmed down a little and then I explained to him in a firm and calm tone that feeding had to be done on that table. He finally realized that mommy won't give in and agreed to sitting on his table again.

He was late for school. I didn't like that but it was necessary. For me, I called this tough love but I was truly glad that I stuck to my principle of not rewarding bad behaviours.