It's all a bit of a struggle....

Lucy and I are really not getting on at the moment again. We are so similar in personality and react the same way when we get tired, we are having some fairly heavy weight clashes at the moment. Believe me, she may only be three, but Lucy is a bright and formidable opponent! I am at my wits end, I simply don't know what to do. The battle lines are clearly drawn. The arguments stem from the simple fact she will not do something when asked, we are having many tantrums, lots of leg kicking and screaming - mainly occurring at bath time in the evenings. She is such a determined little character and I am struggling to put across that sometimes we have to do things we do not want to do without loosing my temper. I am quite a emotional person and am trying hard to find some consistency in my approach to her. As soon as I feel have found a way to get something over to her, she changes the goal posts and almost belligerently stamps down on that approach. She is oh so very bright and knows when to push my buttons. At the moment I need some parenting guru to step in and whisk me away for a 'become the ultimate parent class in ten easy stages' course. Please help. Please help. We are so close and maybe that is the problem.

Girls, important note - please let your daddy have some sleep in the next few nights. Please. I'm knackered