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30 Jan Are tantrums a challenge?

Posted at 07:00h in Real Stories by Real Mums by

Is the current age of each child the most challenging for her/his parents? As parents of two, it feels like that, lately. Our eldest, a 3 year old little girl, has always been very sweet and “sunny” mooded. We could take her everywhere, she slept along the way in her stroller, played without making a fuss… But things have changed since her baby brother was born.
We were prepared for the natural jealousy he would bring her (after all she wouldn’t  be the only one to gather everyone’s attention, anymore), but the trickiest part came later.

As they are both growing older, and the baby boy has began to crawl and then to walk, she became mischievous and has frequent tantrums.

The first thing we tried to recognize is what can possibly trigger a tantrum… Let me tell you: just about everything. From meals to bathtime, from bedtime to getting dressed, any occasion is a good occasion for an outburst.

Parenting means ever growing knowledge strongly based on experience, so now we are getting to know a few “rules” to help us dealing with this behaviour:

  • Do not overrate the child’s tantrum: We know sometimes it’s (very) difficult, but giving to much importance to the screaming and to the clenched fists will only make it worse, because the child senses she is getting her way by behaving like that. If we are in a “controlled” environment like home, just let her put everything out. It will eventually calm her down;
  • Try to get something to distract the child and refocus her attention positively: For example, if our daughter wants to play with something really noisy at bedtime, we say “no” and she burts into tears and starts screaming, refocusing her for a favourite bedtime story maybe a good twist (Alert: refocusing doesn’t always work);
  • Avoid, if possible, running errands with your children: Waiting in lines or getting stuck in traffic are always reasons to get children annoyed. Presently, we buy many things online and get it delivered at home. We save time and spend it with our children;
  • Take a deep breath and have (lot’s) of patience!!
  • Remember (and hope) that is only a phase.

What are your tantrum tips?

See you soon!

About the Author

We are a family of 4: Mum Catarina, Dad Nuno, daughter Alice and son Afonso. We are from Lisboa – Portugal. In our blog, we share our parenting experience, projects we like, places we visit and much more. Welcome to our place!!

Website: http://a-meninadamama.blogspot.pt/
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