Toddler tantrums can be overwhelming for many mums, especially if you have more than one tot to look after.
At times, parents may even snap at their tantrumming kids under pressure, when they don’t really mean to do so.
The perfect answer to this, which many mums may have already figured, could be co-parenting and sharing the responsibility with the dads.
Celebrity parents of two children, Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard seem to have cracked the code to tackle their kid’s toddler tantrums. Bell feels that rather than perfection, thoughtfulness is the key.
Switching kids to avoid being reactive to toddler tantrums:
In an interview to Us Weekly she explains, “We tag team. We switch kids all the time. If I am talking to the two-and-a-half-year-old and I’m done, I’ll just be like, ‘We’ve got to switch. I don’t want to talk to this kid anymore.’
It’s not about perfection, but it is about being thoughtful and not reactive. So in order to not be reactive, we switch kids a lot.”
Mums, isn’t that an easy yet immensely helpful technique? Rather than both parents facing toddler tantrums together, it could be more helpful to divide into teams and look after the kids.
As parents, it is important and better to take a break from a child who is pushing your limits instead of suffering a meltdown.
Choosing to respond over reacting:
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Kristen further shares: “It feels awful when your kids ruin your house. It feels really, really awful. In those moments I go, ‘Am I going to like myself more after calming, cleaning this up and making them help me? Or am I going to like myself more after I blow at them because they dumped — or accidentally dumped — a big bucket of beads? Which outcome am I going to be happier with?’”
The best approach to dealing with tantrums is to respond to your child instead of reacting. Let’s take an example of your kids creating a huge mess in your house and then throwing a big one when you ask them to help clean up.
If you tackle this the Kristen Bell way:
First, breathe, count to ten backwards… do whatever you need to, to calm down.
Next, calm your kids down with a method of your choice.
Finally, involve one child at a time in the cleaning process. This will not only help in easing your workload but also make them responsible for their actions.
While you work with one child, your spouse should look after the other.
This technique seems pretty simple, but in the face of a furiously tantrumming child or two, it really works!
Mums, if you haven’t already tried this technique, do so next time you have toddler tantrums flying across the house.
