Temper Tantrums Got You Down? Get Up And Use These Tantrum Taming Tactics
When it comes to temper tantrums, for most of us, the priority is figuring out a way to get it to stop ASAP. There are many ways of avoiding tantrums, but this article will provide a couple of strategies that will help stop a temper tantrum that is already in full effect!
The first step to dealing with a tantrum, right in the middle of it, is to find a way to change the emotional state of your child. A temper tantrum is an extreme emotional response and no amount of words – as sound as they may be – is going to get through to your child. Don’t try and reason with them. You need to change that emotional state before logic will even begin to resonate with your child.
A great way of changing the emotional state of anyone (this works for the adult as well as the child) is to change your body posture. For you – take a deep breathe, pull your shoulders back, even smile – regardless of how you feel, it will change your emotional state.
Once your own emotional state is set for the tantrum (it is always better to be calm in the middle of your child’s tantrums), it is time to move on to your child’s behavior. To change the mood or the emotional state, you need to stop their current line of thinking. Mentally they may be in a loop that is replaying over and over the wrong they feel has been done to them. They are stoking the fire and you need to redirect their mental energies. Interrupt them with questions, games, or something in their environment. Give them a task to do. Give them a sense of responsibility. Get them to do something that changes their physical situation (look up at the clouds, look in the distance and see the color of a sign that is far away, watch a bird that is swooping by). Get them hold their breathe with you (you can breathe through your nose if you want!). Just get their body to change
Once you have interrupted your child’s emotional outbreak, you are well on your way to having a much more peaceful time with him or her. It is a good idea to avoid bringing up the cause of the tantrum for a little while, as their emotions are still raw. You just need to keep them focused somewhere else and let them scab over for a bit.
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