Dealing with Tantrums
What is a tantrum?
A Temper Tantrum is an immature way of expressing anger. No matter how calm a parent you are, your child will probably throw a tantrum at some stage. By displaying this type of behaviour, your child is expressing their anxiety and frustration. Young children can find it very difficult to express how they are feeling. Strong emotions can be very frightening for a young child, and very difficult and sometimes stressful for a parent to deal with. Temper Tantrums can come in all shapes and sizes, from screaming, stiffening limbs, kicking, flailing about and sometimes children holding their breath or vomiting.
A tantrum can be a short outburst or a longer drawn out process. However long, a tantrum will take an enormous amount of energy and the bigger the audience – the better! It is important to remember that tantrums are fairly common in young children – and there is plenty of support available within Blaenau Gwent to give you information on how best to manage your child’s behaviour.
How can we, as Parents, deal with difficult behaviour?
- Try to recognise what will ‘trigger’ a tantrum – so you can deal with it before it starts
- Always use distraction techniques as the first intervention. Young children are easily distracted – helping to prevent a full blown tantrum
- IGNORE as much of the negative behaviour as possible. The more attention you give to a child displaying negative behaviour – the more likely they are to repeat this behaviour
- PRAISE all of your child’s positive behaviour – this will raise your child’s confidence and self-esteem, leaving very little room for negative behaviour to occur!
- ALWAYS consider your child’s safety and wellbeing
- REMAIN calm – this will help diffuse the situation and encourage your child to learn from your behaviour
- ENSURE your house is a NO SMACKING ZONE try and help your child deal with their emotions in a positive, consistent way