After the terrible twos and threenager years, comes the "EFFING FOURS"!

Hold on tightly to your seats, hats, pearls, and Tiger balm, because it seems that experienced parents out there have conveniently forgotten (or have intentionally avoided) giving us poor saps the heads up about this harrowing stage of our child's development known as the Effing Fours! 

You'd think that now your little one is officially a preschooler, your days of tantrums and meltdowns are over -- think again, because once your child turns four, she will also be referred to as:

So what else can you call your fiery little four year old based on her developmental milestones at this stage?

The four year old itch!

Here's a painfully honest list most parents of this "blessed" age group can probably relate to!

Even though your four year old is no longer having temper tantrums or colossal meltdowns, you will notice that she can be extra sensitive and easily start to sulk at the drop of a hat.

Just because you told her she has to finish eating her dinner before she's allowed to have dessert, she's pouting like an angry little duck, crossing her arms firmly, talking back, or even quietly sobbing to herself as if her whole world is crumbling down.

According to Nathalie Brown, a Child Behaviour Consultant from Easy Peasy Kids, your preschooler may have a more expansive vocabulary now, but she's still unable to adequately express her feelings.

But just like when she was a tiny baby, you should tune in to your child's feelings and help her work it through.

"It's like a switch goes off in their head and they have no control over that switch; it just goes. The switch can be triggered by many things: if they're slightly over-tired, hungry, over-stimulated, bored or not getting their own way", says Brown.

You've reminded your four-year-old not to overfeed the pet goldfish, but when you catch her shaking half a bottle of the food flakes into the fish tank for the fifth time that day and confront her about it, she might look you straight in the eyes and tell you that the poor goldfish were hungry and she heard them "ask her for more food".

Of course we know Goldie the fish is just a regular non-verbal pet, and you highly doubt your kid has been blessed with the ability to talk to animals (how cool would that be though?) -- so why did she tell you a bold-faced lie and expect you to believe it?

Or when telling a story to someone, you might even notice your child peppering in exaggerated details which never even happened.

According to some experts, children of this age are still unable to differentiate between fact and fiction, and that they sometimes get the truth mixed up with wishful thinking or fantasy:

"He’s not lying (at least by childhood standards), he’s thinking wishfully — imagining what he wishes had happened. Not only does wishful thinking allow the child the luxury of living in a dream, it impresses his friends and raises his social status", they say.

Even though you and your partner were your child's very first friends (we know, how cute, right?), as she grows older she will start to play alongside other kids and maybe even have a friend or two she regularly meets up with for play dates.

But once your little one turns four, this is when she will start wanting to be part of a bigger group in a social scene, be it in school, at the playground, or at a party.

Encourage your child to develop her social skills by mixing around with other kids and by making new friends.

You can also teach her how to introduce herself such as by saying: "Hello, my name is ____, can I play too?".