17 months: tantrums and food fights. How best to deal with them at this age?

[bohemianbint]

Ah...it's a relatively recent (ie weeks!) thing this. Today, every time I have let DS walk, he has lain down on the floor and refused to move. Usually accompanied by one very high pitched bad tempered scream.

I'm quite inclined to turn my back and ignore him until he stops doing this, but I don't know if it's the right way to handle these strops at his age. If he really kicks off, I just take him away from wherever we are.

Then tonight, I gave him his tea. He threw the spoon on the floor, squashed the food between his hands, took it out of the bowl and put it back in again, then finally stashed it all down the inside of his chair, covering himself with food.

I got so annoyed I just put him to bed with nothing, but now I feel a bit tight. I wondered if I should have kept offering him things, but I don't really want to reinforce this behaviour. Or am I being to harsh?

Is this a preview of the Terrible Twos?

[mrspnut]

It's perfectly normal and I'd say you handled both of them right.

I ignore the lying on the floor (mine does it when I make her hold my hand - she wants to run around) and if she's messed around with her dinner then she doesn't get anything else. She'll learn before she starves.

[bohemianbint]

Cheers mrspnut. I feel a bit harsh but then I don't want him getting carried away with this kind of thing - and besides, he's perfectly capable of learning. He learns new things every day quite quickly (animal names, body parts) but for some reason useful things like not killing the cats or throwing his food about seem beyond him.

[Ash80]

I have 18 month old, and he can be very similar to what you described. I also think what you did was right, but once every so often there is a reason for that behaviour, and sometimes a small allowance on your part may make peace.
Like sometimes my ds doesn't want to wear his slippers, he get qute passionate about it. So i say ok then, but the floor is cold and leave it, after a minute of the cold floor and the fact that i wasn't bothered i guess, he brings his slippers to me to put on him...... Not always this easy though.

[bohemianbint]

Thanks Ash80. It's so difficult to know how to handle them at this stage when you can't quite reason with them verbally.