How I Got Hold of a Temper, Tantrum, and Teary Situation - A Mom Reveals

My daughter Yashvi is six. Her smile is her trademark, a permanent fixture on her face. As a family we enjoy life, we smile through it all. We needed passport size pictures .The camera man said "for your visa you can't smile". We heard a cry of anger from my daughter at her inability to stop a smile. My husband and I grinned at each other. A couple of retakes later, a growing line of people made us impatient with her.

We tried every explanation, it's easy, let's all try and be serious, let's just look into the camera, but in another minute the tears started rolling, then a full blown crying tantrum to our horror. We hugged her and rambled about how easy it is to think about ice cream or her favourite cartoon Sofia the princess. At one time I remember trying to grab the camera to try, click the picture myself, after that we were asked to leave. Passport picture or no I had to address this issue of my daughter sitting in a photo booth crying away because she was asked to stop smiling. We had to connect before we wounded her with our inappropriate words. 

Sitting clueless and desperately thinking up a solution we tackled it with truth. Could we tell her tear streaked face this was a fear/temper tantrum which stems from inability to deal with a situation? I started to explain to her about different countries she learnt in school. Each year they pick one international country- she got interested and we spoke about the country she was currently learning , the food, places to visit, and said she would never be able to go to that country as she would have no visa without a passport size picture. She cried again said "Why can't I smile in the picture why do I have to be serious? Don't the people in international countries like smiling people?" to which I smiled too, and explained everyone doesn't have a smile always so if people who check the visa document can't recognise the one holding the document, it would be difficult to screen people who travelled to different countries-somehow she understood- she nodded slowly and asked if she could try once more with a very small smile so small that she would almost be able to hide it.

Finally my mischievous daughter was back;we figured a secret way to dupe the camera man by hiding our smiles. We walked into the photo booth and proudly came away with a couple of passport size pictures all approved by husband dearest while the camera guy looked visibly relieved and Yashvi sporting a half of half of half smile. We did laugh then all together- my heart was doing summersaults the parent in me had won against a tantrum. Roll with the truth and borrow some patience, Any situation can get bizarre, you will be absolutely fine if you don't forget to smile please! Read more temper tantrum dealing tips here.