The Taming of the Tantrum
- jentraynor
- Mar 6, 2016
- 2 min read
As a mother of two young kids dealing with tantrums is a daily occurrence, sometimes several times a day! Or only a few times on a good day!
I don't know about you, but coping with my little ones temper tantrums is still a work in progress for me despite the fact I've been a mom for over four years. My son's tantrums are definitely different then my daughter's, and as I enter my second time around of living through the "terrible twos" I find myself looking for new ways to cope through the meltdowns.
I have to admit that in the past I did not always handle the tantrums with my son very well. My go-to solution was a time out and I think most of the time it was for both of us to calm down, rather than just him. I also learned that it wasn't always an effective method to use with him.
I've gotten better with remaining calm when my kids are in meltdown mode, but still have moments when I need to take a deep breath and count to ten before stepping in to handle the situation.
It was in one of those moments with my daughter recently when a thought occurred to me...why not include my daughter in that pause for taking a deep breath and counting? And so I walked up to her, sat down on the floor to be eye level with her, and asked her to listen to mommy for a moment. I then explained to her to take a deep breath with me, demonstrating first and then getting her to do it with me. To lighten the mood I even made a funny sound as I breathed out and this helped get her attention more. After having a quick laugh at my silliness I was able to get her to calm down and tell me why she was upset. Before I knew it the tantrum was forgotten and she was happily playing again.
Now, I may find myself needing to do this several times a day, but what I've learned from giving this method a try is that it gives my kids a chance to sort out their feelings, which can be difficult to do when they are so worked up. I’ve learned that at their young age they can’t always properly express how they are feeling, and sometimes need a little help. This tantrum-taming approach allows me to get a better understanding of what's wrong and hopefully avoid it in the future.
