Monday, August 19, 2013

What to do when Your Toddler Throws a Tantrum – Humor



  1. Take a deep breath. This isn’t as bad as it seems. People aren’t staring.
  2. Take another deep breath because your child just took a deep breath in order to increase his own volume.
  3. Attempt to ignore the tantrum and pretend this isn’t happening – in a very public place.
  4. Try reasoning with your tiny tantrum thrower. Come to understand that toddler terrorists don’t negotiate.
  5. Try threatening with warnings of discipline and bodily harm. Get kicked in the shin instead.
  6. Walk away. Pretend it’s not your child and wait for someone to call DHS on you because you just abandoned your toddler in a busy building.
  7. Try bribery. Depending on the bribe, tantrum might stop. And then you can stop feeling like a decent parent because you just bribed your child with Dove chocolates and a pony.
  8. Try waiting it out. Then come to realize that your toddler is going the distance with this tantrum and that “waiting” is going to last a good half hour.
  9. And when all else fails, bodily haul your tiny terrorist off the premises and ignore all the dirty looks people are shooting in your direction. Those naysayers will have a good dose of karma coming back their way.
We were at the Iowa State Fair when Lucan threw a massive fit about not being able to play with the water in the hot tubs (we were probably only a tantrum away from him stripping down and trying to swim in the hot tubs). I tried to pretend Lucan was fine. I tried walking away. I tried bribery with a warm chocolate chip cookie (he crumbled it and threw the pieces at me) and finally we gave up and hauled him out to the car and home for a nap. Sometimes the only thing that will fix a bad mood is a nap! 


1 comment:

*carrie* said...

I've so been there, friend!

Glad you have photo proof for later. Sometimes we pull out the video camera when our kids are melting down!