2.5 Yr Old Melts down After Daycare

My son went through this when he was 3. He's 5 now. For him, we didn't fret, didn't punish, didn't respond other than put him to bed because "you must be tired". One of two things will happen: he will get bored and realize that the attention-getting didn't work or he will go to sleep because he WAS tired. Give it time. Let him be bored for 10 minutes or so. It's tough. It took about a year of this response for Kieran to realize that the behavior wasn't acceptable.

I would ask how often does he go to this school? He may be overwhelmed with going from being home all the time and with you to being in this environment.

It is not that he likes one more than the other or needs to stop. It may be that he needs a better balance.

Mine did this at age 16 months and 3 yrs when we got too busy. I had to back off on one of his days away from mom/home and he was back to his old self. ;-)

These types of things need adjustments. Not all size fits everyone. One 2 yr old may do fine with 5 days a week. Another might need 2 days a week.

Good luck,

maybe he is not eating enough at school. After all, no matter how nice his teacher is she will not be paying attention to all the kids like their own moms. Maybe once he gets home you could make him a nice meal.
Kids at this age are anxious about separation from parents, he likes the school but anticipating the separation the next day and is anxious about it. kids are smarter than we think..

What about a mini meal when he gets home? He probably isn't eating like he did at home now that he is at school. I know my kids all have meltdowns from being hungry. I know you don't want to pump him full of food before dinner but he may need it. When I was a child the pedi (talking 25-30 years ago here) told my mom to give us each a sugar cube when we got home from school to pep us up until dinner! LOL... I am NOT encouraging that but maybe a bowl of cereal with a banana just a little more than a snack.

Worth a try at least!

I think you have gotten good suggestions. My son is almost 3 and I would say he is over stimulated. It is big change to go from quiet home where everything is predictable to always loud and busy. My son love to got to play with other kids (school, playground, parties) but his behavior is terrible afterwards. I make sure he is not hungary and when we come home we spend a little time sitting together quietly on the couch watching a cartoon and he is MUCH better. He just needs to unwind and he is not able to do that by himself. he never has been. It is hard because there are so many things that need done. I think they just miss what they are used to. I would say to if he is going full time. maybe ease him into it with part timef or a while until he gets used to it. I think his behavior is normal and is him just trying to process his day. I think as he gets used to it it will get better. Just be sure not to reward his behavior. When my son gets out of control, I send him to his room to "get himself together". It doens't take him very long any more to quiet himself but to go sit in his room quietly helps alot. Good Luck

You may want to look at what the school is giving him for afternoon snack. If they are giving him a lot of juice and cookie, he may be overloaded on sugar. just a thought.

I have a 16 month old that recently started doing the same thing. We started giving him a snack as soon as we got home, which held him over until dinner. This did help a lot. He still sometimes throws a fit, but we sort of figured out that he was just craving our attention after not seeing us all day. So my husband (who gets home before me) tries to have dinner cooking so that we can spend our time with our son. The dishes, laundry, cleaning, etc. now all wait until after he is in bed. This makes for much happier evenings, plus it gives us good quality play time with him. Hope this helps.

My 2 year old was doing the same thing. She was happy to see me, laughing and smiling, but when we got home she would be all whiney and throwing temper tantrums. It was so bad that I would put her to bed right after dinner b/c I figured she was over-tired.

This week has been a lot better. Not sure what changed. Maybe I've been making an extra effort to give her more attention. Maybe I was too busy rushing, rushing, trying to get everything done.

One thing I do, is give her something to snack on while I'm making her dinner. She loves cheerios still, (not with milk, just by themselves), and also goldfish crackers.

My three year old went through that when he first started his little school. I would punish him and send him to his room when he acted like that and after awhile he just quit doing it. He still has his moments but what child doesn't. I never knew what the reason was behind it but it eventually stopped, but you have to give him consiquences for his actions.