Temper Tantrums

Yes, my two do tantrum too. I would like to share "Happiest Toddler on the Block" by Dr. Harvey Karp--there is a DVD; look on Half.com.

Also, Love and Logic works for us--www.loveandlogic.com. We use the two methods for children and the tantrums are barely a problem now. They may last one minute, literally..in public or at home.

It is crazy but a fun age at the same time.

You are far from alone! I have a 21 month old and he starting throwing fits around 17/18 months. What I have done that has helped is, when we are home, I just walk out of the room he is in and he stops. If he doesn't have an audience then he realizes that his fit is completely pointless. He is very good in public so I haven't encountered that one yet. He hardly ever throws fits now though. This is such a fun and testing age!

girlfriend you are not alone! my 18 month old beautiful baby boy is now a constant ball of joy and terror at once! he has thrown himself to the ground in fury and busted his lip and made it bleed, gotten countless bumps on the head - all from him getting mad and throwing himself on floor in a fit! All because I wouldn't give him another cookie to crush up on the floor! So no you are not alone - welcome to the terrible twos, six months early! Mine started 3 months ago so we've been dealing with it for a while. I'm glad you posted this cuz I hadn't thought about trying to learn a method of dealing with it so hopefully Kelly's advice will be helpful to both of us.

Mostly, I've just accepted it as part of life that he will grow out of in a couple years and until then I don't really take him in public with me anymore after the episode of him slapping the cashier at Kroger like 5 times for trying to give him a sticker! LOL! ok, not really funny but then again it is cuz sometimes you just have to laugh to keep from crying! Ah the joys of motherhood!

my daughter is 19months and do the same thing She embrass me at times what I do is ignore her when she falls out at home I walk away for about 1 min and sometimes she stops other times I have to be firm and look her in the face and say we are not going to have that....It's hard with this generation these kids are spoil with too much love which is good but just remember that she will grow out of it It's there way of expressin themselves...

When my 2 1/2 year old son throws a temper tantrum, we do 1 of 2 things: first, I will grab his arms and cross them on his chest and hold him tightly (same with his legs if he is kicking me), look him in the face and tell him "this is UNACCEPTABLE behavior!" (VERY FIRMLY). If that does not settle him down, he is told "BED ~ NOW!". Children this age will usually throw their tantrums for 2 reasons ~ they are VERY TIRED, or they are HUNGRY. This was very easy for me to figure out with my oldest. They were the ONLY times he EVER threw a temper tantrum (at least, until he started developing "anger issues" with his father at the age of 4 1/2).

Try to pinpoint when your DD is throwing her tantrums. Is it because she hasn't eaten anything in a while? Did she get a nap that day, or have an unusually "busy" day? Or is she starting to throw her tantrums because she isn't getting "her way"? If that's the case, DO NOT give in to her!

The Love and Logic books/DVD's are GREAT. If you belong to a church that offers parenting classes, I would recommend looking for one that offers this particular course. Another book I recommend is "The 5 Love Languages of Children" by Gary Chapman and Dr. Ross Campbell, MD.

We don't "spoil" our kids with LOVE, just THINGS. :) And, as you can see from all the responses you're getting, you are definitely NOT alone in this!

Hang in there...You WILL get thru this phase!