Ignoring Temper Tantrums

Learning to deal with the temper of a 2 year old…what fun. It’s gotten moderately bad here in terms of the number of times Sophie hits the floor flailing her arms and legs while tears pour out of her eyes. We’ve taken to ignoring her completely when she does this.

It’s not easy to ignore a child who desperately wants attention for screaming. But I will say it’s working. The number of tantrums is falling and certainly the duration of each tantrum is shortening.

We’ve tried so many other angles to tackle this problem – reasoning with her, talking calmly with her about her feelings, trying to bargain with her. I tell you, these approaches, while seemingly reasonable, are not effective. At least not with a strong willed little one who is quickly understanding her own capacity for independence. I didn’t think I’d be the type of mom who would ignore her screaming kid, much less advocate others do so, but believe me, it does work.

So if you are having trouble dealing with tantrums – give ignoring it a try. The first time I did it I was probably as distraught as Sophie, only slightly less vocal about the whole thing. She put up a good fight, even marched in to her room and threw herself on the bed. But lo and behold, after a while she walked out, sat in her little chair and asked for a cracker.

I’ll probably hear about this whole experiment of ignoring her tantrums some day in the future, but for now it’s working for our family. Hope this helps bring the peace to you and yours!

photo credit: Citril