Dustyn is far from perfect, but for the most part has been a pretty good boy. He has never really thrown temper tantrums. That was until yesterday…
Dustyn is now fully potty trained except for bedtime and naptime. While we are home it is just easier to let him run around in his birthday suit. That way if I am feeding Carsyn, Dustyn can just go potty instead of having to wait for me or for me to stop in the middle of feeding him. When we go out he will wear a pull-up or underwear and will let me put them on him just fine. Yesterday at nap time I tried to put his pull up on {since he still pees sometimes during nap time} and he FREAKED out! I am not saying just a little whining. I mean totally freaking out, throwing himself on the floor, screaming, hitting, kicking. I have NEVER seen him like this. I tried to talk calmly to him, tried to put underwear on him, tried to figure out what was wrong. He wouldn’t stop screaming. I lost my temper {I am not proud of that}. I felt like and still feel like a terrible mom. I couldn’t figure out why he was crying and on top of that I started yelling at him. I just had to walk out and leave him. Finally he calmed down so I went in there and put his pull up on and he was fine. He went right to sleep and slept normal.
Will he continued to do that for bed time last night, nap time today and bed time tonight. I don’t know what to do. I am at the end of my rope. Should I just leave him naked? Should I ignore him? Put him in time out?Has anyone gone through this? I need help/suggestions!
Don't be upset at yourself for losing your temper, we've all done it! More than once probably, I know I'm guilty of it.
Hugs mama,
Whenever Evan starts his tantrums, I just ignore him and keep doing what I'm doing. Regardless if he cries more or louder. I want him to know who's boss and that him acting like that won't cause me to do what he wants. It is hard but I try harder to stay firm and just let him ride it out but still continue with what I want to do.
Hope tomorrow is better, it's never fun to fight with a 2 year old's tantrums!
I think Amanda gave some great advice. Ethan has always been a fit thrower so it has been interesting to learn how to deal with him, esp if it's out in public :-(
Usually what I do with this stage, is just calmly let them know that this is not the kind of behavior that I expect, and then I tell them I'm going to walk away and come back when they're done throwing their fit. Then when I hear them start to calm down (whether they're fully done or not) I go in their room, and tell them that I'm glad they're not throwing a tantrum anymore, and then try to go ahead with whatever I was trying to do before. If they throw the fit still, then we keep repeating as needed until they're completely calmed down.
I've found that over time the fits get shorter and pretty much stop as soon as I walk out of the room. If we're not in their room and are some place else throughout the house I'll usually ask them to go to their room and throw the tantrum there. If they don't go then I will take them. I tell them that no one likes to listen to the screaming and if they choose to act like that they can go to their rooms and do it there.
It's a fun long process. Thankfully my 7 & 5 yo are pretty much out of it, but the 3 yo has just hit the "terrific" stage! :(