Aibu to hate that people insist on using the word meltdown when they mean tantrum?

[Greysparkles]

Constantly seeing threads toddlers and young children's having "meltdowns" when they really mean their child is having a tantrum.

I feel the use of it really diminishes the real meaning. I have a 10 year old who is prone to meltdowns. Proper sensory meltdowns and it is dangerous for him and others who happen to be near him at times. This is noy a tantrum and I find it a bit insulting that people are taking by the word to somehow insinuate how bad their kids tantrums are.

A tantrum IMO is when a child isn't getting their own way about something.

This can also be a meltdown.

If a child is already overloaded due to tiredness, sensory overload, or whatever they find hard to cope with and they ask for something, it could be that the emotions involved in being told no are enough to tip them over into meltdown.

I've known children to have asked to leave the classroom, been told no, ended up in meltdown and had it labelled as a tantrum by school staff. In reality, the a child can start to learn to recognise when they are becoming overloaded, ask to use a strategy that might help and, when this is refused, the emotions around feeling trapped and being told no, add to their overload and trigger the meltdown.

If really isn't always difficult to differentiate between the two states, even if the events leading up to the crisis appear to give a strong indication of which it is.