Tantrums

What Is A Tantrum?

A tantrum is defined in the Oxford dictionary as an “uncontrolled outburst of anger and frustration, typically in a young child.”

Tantrums normally start in the “Terrible Two’s” and can continue on till they start school. The behaviour displayed ranges from:

crying
throwing themselves on the floor
making their whole body rigid
kicking
screaming
hitting
stamping
holding their breath

What Causes A Tantrum?

There are many reasons why your child might have a tantrum and these include:

frustration
anger
jealousy
hungry
fear
confusion
not being able to get what they want
attention seeking
independence
tiredness
over stimulation

How To Stop Tantrums?

This is the difficult bit. Many people have different views on how to handle and stop tantrums. Some of the ways that have worked include:

setting boundaries: which both parents agree on and work on together
have a routine: children like to know what is going on and what to expect
if your child is attention seeking, ignore them carry on with your daily activity
praise your child when they show good behaviour to encourage more good behaviour
be consistent
distract their attention if you feel a tantrum brewing
practice saying no and meaning it
avoid trying to reason logically – a toddlers language is not sophisticated enough to understand
reward them: set up a star chart, your child receives a star for every morning and afternoon they don’t have a tantrum

How Do I Go About Having Time Out?

“Time Out “is a useful tool if you find that your temper is rising. “Time Out” is what happens when you pick up your child and put them in a safe room and close the door.

Your child stays in that room for 1 minute for every year of their age. When you take them out of the room explain the reason why you put them in the room, so they can start to understand why.

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