Daddies Top Tips For Dealing With Toddler Tantrums

All children have them, according to the 'experts' temper tantrums usually start at around 18 months and are very common in toddlers. Hitting and biting are common, too.

For those you that have had first hand experience with a toddler going off on one, then you will know they can be hard to deal with. It is even worse when they happen to start kicking-off in public!

They say that one of the main reasons for this is toddlers want to express themselves, but find it difficult. They feel frustrated, and the frustration comes out as a tantrum. Once a child can talk more, they're less likely to have tantrums. By the age of four, tantrums are far less, which is music to my ears.

I have put down some quick ideas that may help you cope with tantrums when they happen.

Ignore the Child

The main reason why this technique will work most of the time is so fascinating. During a tantrum, toddlers are literally out of their minds. Their emotions will take over and in the process overriding the brain’s frontal cortex. The brain’s frontal cortex is used by in the making of decisions and judgments. Since the toddlers are overwhelmed by their emotions, reasoning with the toddlers will not help because the reasoning part will not work. Anything that you will try to do at this point will only make things once. Thus, all you will be required to do is to wait until the tantrum is over.

Give the Child Some Space 

Many at times, kids will require a few moments to let their anger out. Hence, as parents, you should let them. However, you should ensure that there is nothing in the tantrums way which would harm the kid. Most medical practitioners believe in this method because it allows the toddlers to vent out their anger or frustrations in a non-destructive way. They will be able to release their frustrations, pull themselves together and eventually regain self-control. This trick can be employed alone or together with the first trick.

Create a Diversion 

This tip is all about creating a mental diversion, with the aim of getting the kid interested and engaged in something else. If the diversion is successful, the toddler will forget about the meltdown. Items such as books, toys or snacks are excellent for creating diversions. Diversions are a great way of dealing with toddler tantrums because kids normally have a very short attention span, which in turn means they can be easily distracted.

Find the Main Cause of Frustration

Finding the main cause of frustration normally works well for kids below two years. Kids at this age usually have a vocabulary of about 50 words and also cannot link more than two words together. Their communication is very limited, yet still, have wishes and thoughts that must be met. If you do not get the message, the toddlers tend to panic and look for ways to release their frustrations. One way that you can be able to understand what the toddler is saying is by teaching him or her sign language and several keywords.

We have a toddler that occasionally likes to throw a tantrum and if like us you are looking for more advice, there a plenty of other resources, articles and videos online, including this short video:

Karl Young

Part-time daddy and lifestyle blogger. Father of 2 boys under 2. Golfer, scare-fan, tea-lover, traveller, squash and poker player. I write on the @HuffPostUK http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/karl-young/

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