E turned two a few days ago, but really the idea of tantrums and frustration is nothing new.
She's had moments like that since before she was one. She's clever and sometimes her body (ability to move, get places, use her mouth to make words to express her feelings, desires and frustrations) can't keep up with her brain. She gets annoyed.
Lets face it, we all have moments where we do something to screw up, or that doesn't work, and we get annoyed and want to hit something or scream.
Usually something stops the grown ups, but not so much the toddlers. Lashing out is all they have in that moment, scream and cry and kick and throw. Throwing is particularly popular in this house. She'll say "doll/pushchair/remote fall down", then throw the object.
The hardest bit is trying to to laugh. I mean, come on - that is genuinely funny! Hilarious in fact. And I'm not always so good at being the "grown up" So sometimes I do laugh.
Generally though, I do see that it's a sign she's annoyed or frustrated at something. So I try to remove her from the situation. We have a room upstairs that will eventually be hers, though at the moment her cot is still in our bedroom. We call it the playroom. It is very childproofed in that there is a mattress on the floor, and loads of cushions and soft toys.
She can do whatever she wants in there (well, within reason). She generally likes to be grabbed and thrown on the bed and tickled, or else throw her teddies on the floor. Either one generally changes the fit of tantrum into a fit of giggles.
It's lazy parenting really. I'm not going to turn it into a battle of wills. I've tried that on occasion. She's stubborn and I'm stubborn.
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