Sit Down…the show is about to begin.

(Announcer) Everyone please take your seat.  The show will begin promptly in the living room.  I know you were expecting a relaxing evening following a hard day at work, but we have a very special performance for you tonight.  On center stage (brown chair adjacent to the ottoman) is Caroline.  Please give a warm welcome for Caroline making her debut this evening.

Yes, it’s a huge production.  Drama Queen!  I get home from work, change into some jeans, toss my hair into a pony and get ready to relax and play with my daughter.  First thing, happy hour, which consists of milk and graham cracker (aka “crackie”).  Ahhh…peace and quiet, or so I thought.  Caroline decides to put on quite a show, and she knows it.  Her new thing is climbing into the chair in the living room, standing up on the chair and then dancing the night away.  In seconds she can hop into the chair, and in the same time frame can fall out and land smack dab on her face.  So, no, I can’t let her do it.  What do I say?

(Mom) “Caroline, sit down!“ 
What does she say?
(Caroline) “Sit down!“
(Mom) “No, YOU sit down!“
(Caroline) “SIT DOWN!“

No, she doesn’t quite get that I mean for HER to sit down, and now I’ve just “poked the bear” and made her mad.  Here comes the big show.  Caroline takes the sippy cup in one hand and tosses it…wait—SLAMS it—on the floor.  We’re now at a “stand off” and things are getting tense.  No one is backing down.  Just to make her point clear, Caroline then takes her “crackie” and slams it down on the floor, too, crumbs flying.  In her closing number, Caroline screams at the top of her lungs and buries her face in the chair.  For added effect, she stomps her feet.  No temper tantrum is complete without feet stomping.  Quite a production, indeed.  The reviews are still out, but it’s clear mom is not impressed.  We are skipping the curtain call and going straight to a “time out.“  All future shows will be cancelled.

Uh—seriously?  Seriously?  While it’s frustrating to try to figure out how to handle these temper tantrums (and we’ve definitely hit that stage) I must admit that I really am glad she’s so “fiesty.“  No, I don’t want her to be a problem child or a snot, but I love that’s she’s got some life to her, some spunk, and the girl knows what she wants. 

What do you do to keep the sanity?

Happy Wednesday!

Ellie

I was just a nanny for a little girl that had some of these fiesty tantrums. Some times it would get to the point she wouldnt even know why she was so upset. I finally got to the point, I would tell her once and then shake my head no and point to her little time out chair. Sometimes she would go ,sometimes not. I would have to carry her and just sit her there. I wouldnt say much except that we just need a few minutes to take a break and relax,
This seemed to work more then us going back and forth with each other.

Gotta love a spunky little child.  Cameron can indeed have his moments.  He can be ornery and not want to listen to a thing I say and then on the other hand he is sweet as pie.  There are times I tell him to sit down and to stop climbing on his toys, but he loves to be the famous acrobat and next thing you know he is screaming bloody murder because he fell.  Well, if I tell Cameron to sit down or get down… he repeats everything I say “get down” “sit down” and well he honestly thinks HE is the boss.  Next thing you know he pulls out his finger and points.  Yep, it is indeed hard to punish him when he is so freaking cute, but after awhile of us not paying attention he eventually gives up.  I can see it all now when the grade cards come out when he is older… Dear Parent, do you realize that your son enjoys being a class clown?  He loves to have everyone’s attention and this needs to stop.  Yep, I am sure it will be on there quite frequently.  I wish I knew a way to keep my sanity, but I guess the only thing I can think of is a nice warm bubble bath or a hot shower and peace and quiet.  Oh yeah, the peace and quiet never happens anymore when you go into the bathroom - does it?  Good Luck Ellie, sounds like you and I are enjoying these moments together : )
Hang in there my friend…

I have a few things that I do to distract my daughter when she tantrums. The first is to pick her up, hold her and march in place. I hold her on my hip and do the army march and she laughs and giggles. Since we’re still breastfeeding at 22 months, sometimes I will offer her to nurse. That often does the trick. Finally, sometimes she just needs to let it out, so if she’s not in a position to hurt herself, I just let her yell and kick and get it out. I tell her it’s okay to cry and be mad and I say “when you’re ready, Mommy’s here.“ We all have a bad day, and toddlers just don’t always have the words to tell us what is troubling them.

LAUGH!!  My 8 year old tries sometimes to pull the tantrum bit on us but most of the time now we start laughing which in turn makes her laugh.  Her and I have gotten into some laughing matches that it goes on for 5 - 10 minutes.  We just look at each other and crack up.  It lightens the situation and she forgets what made her mad in the first place.  That is in most cases, if she doesn’t forget then we can usually talk about it and resolve it.  I usually feel a lot better and am not stressed myself.

But when she was Caroline’s age, time outs were helpful but what really worked is to count to 5 or down from 5.  This may take some time to get her to understand but now my girls know I mean business when I start to count.