Across the Same Words collection
Tantrums
12 prepared situations from 3 family areas. Choose the moment that is closest to yours.
They crash after it goes offEvery Screen · Turning it offThe screen ends and the next part of the day falls apart.→You hand it over because they are already falling apartEvery Screen · Getting screen timeA screen stops a meltdown faster than anything else you own.→Handover — they walk in mid-meltdownEvery Grown-Up · The other parentOne of you has been holding a limit for twenty minutes.→Full meltdown — on the floorBoth Parents · MeltdownsDuring a full meltdown, the part of your child's brain that reasons, remembers rules and finds words has gone offline.→Tantrum because you said "no"Both Parents · MeltdownsCrying about a limit is not a sign that the limit was wrong.→Car seat battleBoth Parents · MeltdownsBeing strapped into a seat is a total loss of control, applied to a person whose entire developmental project this year is control.→Hitting you during a meltdownBoth Parents · MeltdownsAn overwhelmed body discharges through the hands.→The after-daycare meltdownBoth Parents · MeltdownsHolding it together all day costs a small child enormous effort — following rules, sharing, waiting, managing without you.→Scary tantrums — when to seek helpBoth Parents · MeltdownsSome children hold their breath until they go limp or blue.→Teach calming BEFORE the stormBoth Parents · Big feelingsYou cannot teach a skill during a meltdown.→The ten minutes that prevent meltdownsBoth Parents · Big feelingsA large share of hard behavior is a request for connection dressed up as something else.→Public tantrum — store or restaurantBoth Parents · Out and aboutThis is the same meltdown as at home with one extra ingredient: you.→