Those cute little boys in my Avi

are starting to throw some serious temper tantrums again. We had a nice reprieve for a few months and they are back with a vengeance. I am ignoring them but they are driving me :crazy:. Is there anything else at this age I should be doing?

 

I've noticed that Meara is really able to calm herself if we tell her lay down and calm down and let us know when she is ready to talk. She'll lay down on the floor and cry/scream for awhile and then come to me for a hug. Ana on the other hand gets really out of hand and will start to claw her face. We need to remove her from the room/situation and let her cool down. Thats just my personal experience, so I don't know if it will work for you. We also talk about our feelings A LOT! "You were frustrated/sad/mad/etc weren't you?"

ETA: that avi is super cute!

 

OMGosh, I :wub: that avi!!!!

I'm not sure about the tantrums. :hug: We have outright attitude and defiance here now. Bring on the drama queen.

 

When our older DS was that age and he'd start to have a tantrum, we would tell him that we didn't want to see it - so he could go upstairs to his room and throw a fit if he really needed to. I'd say 99/100 times, he wouldn't bother! :lol:

And your Avi is really adorable!! :wub:

 

Awww, they are so cute Rachel! :wub:

I have never found anything that works better for tantrums than ignoring them. Most of the time, it's an attention getting thing & if they don't get the attention they will stop. Not fun, though, and we have been having our share around here too! Must be the age.

 

Jack can have a major tantrum. I have found that if I sit sort of near him and just let him go at it for a few minutes then he is much more manageable. I simply lay him on the carpet so he does not hurt himself and then I play with Lily a bit and let him sort it out. After a minute or two I will check in with him and tell him that I am here for him when he is ready for a hug. Eventually, he will hold his arms out and say "mommy" and then I pick him up and it is over! The strategy is sort of to ignore him but at the same time let him know that I am here for him when he is ready.

 

I have had a few tantrums that were SO bad I thought my boy was possessed! But, I had read in Touchpoints about holding on to them (your arms hold their arms etc.) and quietly tell them that "until you can control yourself, I am going to do it for you" - now, I was NOT a big fan of this when I read it! Sounds stupid! It works. Then they are there when you are ready to hug them! BUT....I don't do this for all "fits". They are NOT all created equally!!

Also, you can try the other method of throwing a bigger tantrum. There is a whole book about that strategy! It distracts them from their mission and lets them see what the tantrum looks like. (Something like that!)

Sometimes I put them on their bed and tell them to stay there till they are finished and that works fine!

 

When a tantrum starts I sit down next to them and tell them to use their words and tell me what is going on. What do you want? Why are you crying? And then we problem solve. Seriously, 90% of the time it truly works. However, sometimes they just need a tantrum, and those I continue to ignore.