Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Does "Love and Logic" work with gifted children

The choices never work with our (probably gifted or at least gifted-ish) four year-old. Never have. Interestingly, they work with our two year-old (no clue on giftedness; he's a hard one to read). You can see the wheels in his head spinning...
"Do you want X or Y?"
"NO! NO X! NO Y! MEAN MAMA!"
"OK, then I'll choose for you. Here's X."
*stops, thinks, calms down* "Y."

With the four year-old (and he's always been this way):
"Do you want X or Y?"
"I DON'T WANT X OR Y!"
"You need to make a choice. X or Y."
"I DON'T WANT X OR Y!"
"If you can't make a choice, I'll have to choose for you."
"I DON'T WANT X OR Y!"
"OK, I'll choose for you. Here's X."
*complete meltdown*

Why, yes, my two year-old is in many ways more emotionally mature than my four year-old, why do you ask?

A points system may be more effective with my older kid; I'll have to check that out. He likes to "win" things. I hate to go completely extrinsic with him, but he can't seem to shake himself out of the angry/disappointed stage when he can't do what he wants to do at any moment.