Strategies to Handle Temper Tantrum

Strategies to Handle Temper Tantrum

August 10 2023 TalktoAngel 0 comments 2264 Views

Temper Tantrums are very common among children ages one and three, & can be of any size or shape. Be a role model for managing stress. For instance, "I'm concerned that the traffic will cause us to be late. I can maintain my composure if take a few deep breaths.

Possible sites include screaming, hardening of the limbs, an arched back, kicking, toppling over, flailing about, or running away. Children have been known to hold their breath, vomit, damage things, harm themselves, or harm others while having a tantrum.

This is because young children's linguistic, social, and emotional development is still in their infancy. They could become irritated if they have trouble expressing their needs, emotions, or even their desire to look for themselves. Additionally, they are starting to realize the impact of their actions on other people. So, tantrums are a mechanism for early toddlers to express their feelings, control their emotions, and try to comprehend or change their surroundings.

Even older kids are capable of throwing fits. This can be the case if they haven't yet mastered safe emotional expression or management techniques.

Tantrums can be more likely to occur in toddlers and older children for the following reasons:

• Children's temperament influences how quickly and forcefully they react to events, such as distressing occurrences or changes in their surroundings. These things could irritate delicate kids more quickly.

• When experiencing the impacts of stress, hunger, weariness, and overstimulation, children may find it more difficult to express and manage their emotions.

• Circumstances those young children just cannot handle such as when a younger child's toy is taken away by a bigger youngster.

• For children, intense emotions like fear, phobia, dread, remorse, and fury may be crippling

Identifying what causes your particular child's tantrums is the first step. This process, known as a "functional evaluation" by mental health specialists or child psychologists, entails looking at the real-world conditions that seem to trigger tantrums, in particular, what occurs just before, during, and after the outbursts that may help prevent them from occurring again.

Sometimes a child's tantrum pattern points to a problem that needs to be addressed, such as a traumatic event, abuse or neglect, social anxiety, ADHD, or learning impairment. Beyond the age at which they are typical, children who are prone to meltdowns typically display signs of anguish that they are unable to control. When people are transitioning from something they enjoy to something they find challenging, for example, that attempt falters because it calls for self-discipline they don't yet possess.

Since parents frequently find temper tantrums intolerable—especially in public—the child can infer indirectly that acting out will get him what he wants. It develops into a conditioned reaction. The intermittent reinforcement makes it a very strong learned behavior, even if it only succeeds five out of every ten times that they are tantrums. In order to achieve their goals, they will therefore continue acting in this manner.

One of the objectives of the functional assessment is to determine whether certain tantrum triggers may be changed or removed in order to make them less problematic for the child. We can't make it go away if putting on the child's shoes or leaving for school are the triggers. However, there are situations when we may alter how parents and other caregivers respond to a situation in order to diffuse it. This can mean giving children more notice that they need to complete a task or organizing challenging activities to lessen the risk of a tantrum.

It's crucial to anticipate these triggers and change them so the child can engage in the activity more easily. For instance, if a child finds homework, particularly challenging due to underlying attention, organization, learning challenges, or specific learning disabilities, he/she may have tantrums just before he/she is expected to begin his/her homework. How can we encourage him/her to enjoy doing homework more, we ask parents. We can arrange his/her work, offer him/her frequent breaks, assist him/her where he/she needs it most, and divide scary jobs into manageable pieces.

Another objective is to determine whether the behavior expectations for the child are age- and maturity-appropriate for his/her stage of development and if there is no developmental delay. Can we alter the environment to better accommodate the child's skills and promote growth toward maturation?

First, parents need to realize that preventing a tantrum before it starts does not include "caving in" to a child's demands. It entails separating the unpleasant tantrum reaction from other problems, such as obeying parental orders. Second, by lessening the possibility of a tantrum reaction, you are also eliminating the chance for that reaction to be reinforced. The lack of tantrums teaches children to deal with needs, wants, and disappointments in a more mature way, which in turn promotes the proper answers. Fewer tantrums today will result in fewer tantrums later.

To lessen the likelihood of tantrums occurring, you can do the following:

  • Assist your child in comprehending their feelings. From the moment of your birth, words like "glad," "sad," "cross," "tired," "hungry," and "comfy" may be used to describe your feelings.
  • Determine what causes a tantrum, such as fatigue, hunger, anxiety, or overstimulation. You might be able to anticipate specific situations and avoid the triggers by, for example, going shopping after your child has fed or had a sleep.
  • Encourage your child to become aware of their feelings when they handle a challenging circumstance without throwing a fit. For example, I recently saw you rebuild that skyscraper without becoming upset when it collapsed. What was that like? Did you feel peaceful and strong?
  • After a tantrum, when your youngster is calm, discuss feelings. Did you throw away that toy because, for example, you were irritated because it wasn't functioning properly? What other options did you have?
  • Be a role model for managing stress. For example, "I'm worried that the traffic will cause us to be late. I can maintain my composure if I take a few deep breaths.

Contribution: Dr (Prof) R K Suri, Clinical Psychologistlife coach & mentor TalktoAngel & Ms. Aditi Bhardwaj, Psychologist



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