The Perfect Tantrum

My daughter occasionally has temper tantrums and while they are annoying and they hurt my ears I have find what seems to be the perfect way to get them to stop. No, I don't put her over my knee; put her in the corner, or in any sort of a time out.

I tell her that If she is going to have a tantrum she should make it the best one she can and throw herself down on the ground and hit the floor with her hands and feet. I admit it can be difficult to get her attention when she is screaming at the top of her lungs, but usually if I can get right in her line of site I can get her in between screams.

I look at her nose to nose and tell her that if she is going to have a tantrum to at least make it worth my while to have to listen too. I tell her to get down on the floor, lay on her stomach, and kick and scream for all she is worth. I have even got on the floor to demonstrate to her how she should do it.

This is met with laughter which throws off her whole tantrum. Which I can tell makes her unhappy, my imaginary tantrum takes the wind right out of her sails and embarrasses her to the point where she is over the whole thing.

There is something else that is causing her to pause before she throws one of her tantrums; her three year old brother is starting to have them and she doesn't like for me to point out to her that he is better at it than she is. When my son decides to have a tantrum for not getting his way he stamps his feel here and there.

I have also been able to take a little sting out of his tantrums as well. I have told him that he is not allowed to have them downstairs. If he wants to have a tantrum he has to have it up in his room where I only get about half of the noise from it. There have been times that he won't take himself upstairs and simply turns himself into a wet noodle and sits on the closest floor. On those occasions I pick him up and deposit him on his rug and tell him that I will see him when he is done.