Raising a toddler is never an easy thing to do. Sometimes you will feel like you are living with a tantrum landmine. That’s because your child can get tantrums over anything. Therefore, it is important for the parents to have a clear understanding of 2-year-old tantrums and learn how to deal with them. You will then be able to avoid the tantrum triggers before the terrible two get worse.
What Exactly are 2-year-old Temper Tantrums?
Before you learn how to deal with the 2-year-old tantrum’s triggers, it is important to have a basic understanding of what it is. Tempter tantrum can simply be defined as an intense storm of emotions, which your toddler can get. It is usually associated with disappointment, loss, anger, and deep frustration. The emotional outbreak that your child will go through would lead to screaming, crying, hitting, biting, kicking, falling down, holding breath, or banging their head.
If you take a deep look at 2-year-old temper tantrums, you will notice that they can be divided into two main categories. They include emotional tantrums and Little Nero tantrums. When your toddler feels upset about something, emotional tantrums can take place. On the other hand, Little Nero tantrums will be triggered based on past behavior as well as the reactions of the parents.
How to Deal with 2-year-old Tantrums?
Now you have a basic understanding of what toddler tantrums are. In addition, you also know the factors, which can trigger them. With that in mind, you need to take a look at the most effective methods, which are available for you to deal with the 2-year-old temper tantrums. Then you will be able to act accordingly to overcome tantrums before the terrible two get worse.
1. Always be calm and positive
Toddlers tend to mimic their parents most of the time. Therefore, you can think about staying calm and positive when you experience tantrums in your two-year-old child. However, most parents tend to get angry because of tantrums. As a result, they start yelling at their children. This will not provide any help at all with controlling tantrums. Instead, you need to be calm and positive as much as possible to control the tantrum in an efficient manner.
2. Restore the balance
While staying calm, it is more likely for you to restore the lost balance. You can hold your child or hug your child in order to restore balance. When you are hugging your toddler, you will be able to activate the calming system found in his body. As a result, a chemical named Oxycontin will be released. This chemical is responsible for regulating the emotions of your child.
This also helps you build a stronger relationship with your child that will last them a lifetime!
This is the best tactic whenever your child is upset or hurt. Rather than just talking to them (or yell at them which some parents do) get down to their height and give them a large hug.
3. Never try to reason
When you experience 2-year-old temper tantrums, you need to keep in mind that the emotional brain of your child has taken control over them. Therefore, your child will not be in a position to access verbal and thinking functions. That’s why you shouldn’t think about reasoning the emotions of your child. It would be a waste of time and you will not be able to calm them, or yourself down. Instead, you might further arouse the emotions of your child as well.
4. Try to distract your child
Once you experience tantrums, you can think about distracting your child as well. Simple questions will be able to provide excellent assistance to you with that. With these questions, you will be provided with the opportunity to excite the logical brain of your child. This is a proven method available for the parents to try in order to overcome 2-year-old tantrums.
Also, start to play their favorite game with them. My daughter loved her Hello Kitty doll. Whenever she would start on another one of her tantrums, I would go to her room and pull out the doll. I would play with it in front of her and in only a few minutes, she would join me and forget all about her tantrum.
5. Never punish your child
Last but not least, you need to remember not to punish your child over tantrums. Parental anger will not help you to overcome tantrums, but it will make things even worse. Therefore, you should not let that happen. You should always try to remain calm when you are dealing with tantrums. With that, you will be able to end up with positive results without any hassle.
The more frustrated you get, the more frustrated they will get. Remain calm and follow the steps above.
Communication is Typically the Issue
Most of the time when your child is frustrated, it is because they feel like they are not being heard. They are having trouble communicating their thoughts and emotions their parents or other children.
Effective parents learn to communicate with their children. Now, this does not come easy. Some children are harder than others to communicate. With my first child, I actually took a toddler talk course that helped me communicated with my son better.
From the skills I learned, I was also able to apply it to my daughter.
Read our guide on How to Teach a Toddler to Read!
