How do you deal with tantrums?

[duckyisback]

Ds will be 2 next month and I'm guessing it's terrible twos, but recently he has been so stroppy and constantly throwing tantrums.

This morning we had an appt and he didn't want to leave the house, so I picked him up and carried him out to the door. When we got to the door whilst I was locking it, he threw himself on the floor and started kicking and screaming. I ignored him but then we were late so I had to pick him up, he was kicking out and wriggling and screaming.

We then got to the appt, there was a little table with crayons in a tub, he sat playing then got bored so just threw the tub across the room. Then threw himself on the floor and started screaming and kicking because I asked him to pick them up.

I'm 37 weeks pregnant so a bit worried about when he's thrashing about but don't really know how best to deal with his tantrums.

Is it best to just ignore him having a tantrum? Do I pick him up off the floor? I never know how to react.

It depends where you are as to whether you can ignore it or not but the golden rule is NEVER give in to it! I always gave one warning like "no I do not want to hear that noise,stop and listen or X will happen " if he carried on then I took action. In a public place that might mean being taken outside or being strapped into buggy. At home it meant two minutes time out.

It does help however to try and predict and avoid the tantrums by thinking ahead and providing distractions.

Thanks missy.

It's hard to make sure there's distractions as they seem to happen so often and unpredictably. And I'm a newbie to this!

I don't think time out would work with him, he doesn't keep still at all. Or is it just a matter of perseverance?

I probably sound like an evil mum but I used to put ds in his bedroom for two minutes and close the door! I used to say "mummy will come back when you can be nice to me" then after two minutes I went back in and asked for a cuddle. It worked every time!

Tiredness, hunger, frustration and boredom are the classic triggers.