What are your tips for staying calm

[MrsOs]

Ds is 3 and I thought the tantrums at 2 were bad but he has a true talent now!! He can get upset and start hitting if we tear off tissue paper when he wanted to do it etc. Basically little silly things send him over the edge.. We try ignoring the bad praising the good but at the end of a long day when everyone is knackered how do you not shout? Last night I was trying to get stuff done wAs really tired and he was being a real sod and I found myself shouting and feeling really angry.. How do you keep your cool?

I have a 3 year old and a 6 year old. I use a mixture of ignoring or breezing about silly things that will pass quickly, letting him do lots of things (like toilet paper 'I was going to do that!!), allowing more time for things (eg aiming to leave house at 7am when I know it'll really be 7.15) and '1,2,3 Magic'.

This isn't just counting to 3. There's a really easy-read book which explains it well. Takes all the emotion out of it and keeps me calm.

Another good book for this age is 'Calmer, easier, happier parenting'. It's nice, but not so good on stopping tantrums.

Some may consider this mixed approach inconsistent. I don't think it is - it's judging each instance separately and dealing with it in the best way at the time.

This is good:

www.yummymummyclub.ca/blogs/andrea-nair-connect-four-parenting/20150303/stop-tantrums-in-three-and-four-year-olds

Parrotonmyshoulder what is the other book you are referring to, the easy read one that you say keeps you calm??

'1,2,3 Magic'