Tackling Temper Tantrums In Children

Temper tantrums are caused by anger, one of the most basic emotions. As long as babies are concerned, there is a constant rise in tantrums until they are four years old. When a child wants to do something and you say 'No', the reaction you will usually get out of this child is anger.

More often he makes a scene because he wants you to notice him, so he shows off in front of company. You send him out of the room for this and he kicks and screams both because he is sent away from the center of excitement, and because you aren't with him paying attention to him.

One of the recommendations of child behavior specialists is to ignore these fits of temper and leave the child alone in a room for some time. This way, he will learn that temper tantrums are not a normal way of grabbing someone's attention.

If you put him in a room alone, and do not pay attention to his screams, he learns that the fits he throws do not bring the desired results and that he'll have to try something else.

A great number of parents find it more tempting to spank a child than to listen to them kicking and screaming. But you should remember that some children would rather choose a good spanking rather than being completely ignored, because spanking is also a form of giving attention. What parents should instead do is try to channel their children's energy into more socially acceptable actions.

Tearing books is what a lot of children are doing at some period of time. The way to deal with this is explaining to them that this particular book is important to you but that they are allowed to tear pictures from old magazines that you give them.

Children will usually have a tantrum when you have your friends in for coffee or tea. This time, instead of sending them out of the room, include them in the process of serving the guests with cookies. The guests will thank them and they will also get your attention when you praise them.

It's also a better idea staying calm than loosing temper and yelling at your child. Staying calm will accomplish more in the process of curing him.

Sometimes explanations take too long. In cases of emergency, when your child is about to break your favorite vase, don't shout, "Put It down!", but rather divert his attention to something more appealing. "Put back the vase and come look at this lovely robin building a nest under our window." Later you can explain about the vase, or put it some place out of his reach.

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