Melodramatic Tantrums

My daughter seems to be in this phase lately where if we tell her no (for example, she asked to have her vitamins today; she has already had her vitamins this morning, so I said no because she'd already had them and I didn't want to give her more or they might make her ill), she'll yell "FINE!" and run down the hall to her room, slam the door and then stomp on the floor and yell in her room. I usually go in and tell her in a neutral voice that we do not slam doors and then leave her alone (I'm trying to not give her any sort of attention). When she comes out, she's calm and sweet again. I don't make her stay in her room when this happens, by the way. When she decides to come out, I'll calmly tell her whatever needs to be said (with the example I gave with the vitamins, I'd say again that I said no because she's already had some for today and I don't want her to get sick by having too many).

In any case, I'm trying to make sure I do the right thing, so does anyone have any comments or suggestions or would like to share what they do with their little ones?

Thank you

 

:good: Sounds good to me! I would do the same thing.

Edited to fix typo

 

I think I'd do pretty much the same thing, except that I would remind her about not slamming doors when she comes out, rather than while she's in there. (That's mostly because when my DD is like that, any interaction from me just makes it worse.)

I actually think it's great that she runs to her room on her own. I have to tell Amy, "If you need to scream like that, please do it in your room," and then sometimes actually carry her there.

While it would be ideal if children could absorb disappointment or upset feelings without making a fuss, IMO it's unrealistic at this age. I just try to make it clear that blowing off steam should be done where other people don't have to listen to it.

 

Yeah, I'd wait until the drama was waning before I said anything about slamming doors. When she's not all melodramatic, I would get her something acceptable to scream into, hit, like a pillow.

 

Thanks very much!