Toddler Tantrums â How To Deal With These Without Losing Your Temper
Toddler tantrums tend to be embarrassing and rather noisy. They occur never in the right place or the right time and that can be either at home or when shopping. Let us look at them from the child’s point of view. They are almost always the result of frustration, anger or not being in control of a situation.
I remember reading that the child seat on the supermarket trolley is the most powerful weapon that food producers have when targeting young customers who also happen to be our children! It is a gift for them and torture for the parents. Of course the child cannot tell the difference between an advertisement, infomercial o the TV program associated with his favourite TV character. They are all rolled into one and he wants that snack or cereal with his favourite character.
This means that shopping in a supermarket with a young child is not a good idea. They are more likely to get tired, hungry and frustrated rather easily and that is the perfect recipe for toddler tantrums. Dealing with anger management for children at any age is no fun. This is why it is always a good idea to get help with baby parking or baby sitting so that you are free to do this errand on your own and you will save loads of time as well.
When the tantrum does explode, always be ready with a distraction. It is a good idea to have a stock of these near at hand and they should be a variety. This helps us to take advantage of the child’s very short attention span.
Adult reasoning with a toddler simply does not work. This sort of reasoning which is based on postponement, logic, rewards after waiting, all mean nothing to a child. They cannot and do not think that way at all. Yet many parents shout and even insist that this is the way to do things and insist on imposing their timetable on the tired and hungry child. It is always wise to have a snack or two at the ready when hunger strikes.
It takes courage to ignore toddler tantrums when the above strategies do not work, especially if you are in a public area. It is easier at home and then when things calm down, to talk the child through why his behaviour was so upsetting. Wee need to stress that requests are made verbally although this will depend on the child’s age. This coiled be an idea for the next child behavior checklist which should be specifically about this behavior.
The most important thing is not to give in or yield if a temper tantrum is in progress as the child’s demands will be met. If we do that, the child learns that this sort of behavior actually works and it will be very hard to instil good behavior strategies for the future










