Imagine a life where you are a mere two feet tall and not only is everyone else bigger than you, but they are always telling you, No! No, you cannot take off your clothes in the grocery store. No, you cannot stay up late and watch cartoons. You get the picture. This would be very frustrating for an adult, who has enough sense and experience to understand the situation. If you think about how you would feel in this situation, you are beginning to understand why it is that toddlers throw tantrums.
The primary thing to remember when it comes to dealing with toddler tantrums, is that your child will respond to your reaction while throwing a tantrum. Here are some things that you can do to avert and react successfully to your child’s next outburst.
Use Distraction
If your child seems to be getting frustrated, try to distract them from the activity or maybe even move them to another room or location. When playing in groups, a toddler will not always understand the process of sharing and simply handing them another toy could help to avert a tantrum.
Ignore the Tantrum
An experienced parent or grandparent will tell you that while toddler tantrums can be very frustrating, they are also quite amusing. The best piece of advice that you will ever receive from any of these people is not to react. Do not laugh, cry, yell or even talk while your child is having a tantrum. Do not even look in their direction. Completely ignoring a tantrum will show your child that you are not interested in the display and they will eventually stop and find something else to do. Keep in mind that while this something else might mean sulking in the corner or some other negative activity, in most cases they will appear to have forgotten that they were even having a tantrum.
Sing Through the Tantrum
Many parents find that singing silly songs in a rather loud voice, while a toddler is throwing a tantrum, will distract the toddler and get them laughing rather quickly. It is impossible for a laughing toddler to throw a tantrum successfully, so they generally give up and quickly forget why they were mad in the first place.
Put your Toddler in Front of a Mirror
During a temper tantrum, place your screaming toddler in front of a mirror and allow them to see their tantrum with their own eyes. This will almost immediately end a tantrum in an older toddler because they see how ridiculous they look.
These suggestions will not work with every toddler, depending on their age and temperament. In most cases, you can use these strategies to help cope with and bring an end to a temper tantrum.