Ways to Respond to Child's Temper Tantrums When They Happen

I am the mother of an 8-year-old male child. My son, when he was young, used to lose his temper a lot, and was adamant in a few things. I and my husband both are working and we were a bit worried, then we discussed and tried to work out. Here are somethings, we figured out how to control temper tantrums.

How to Respond With Your Child's Temper Tantrums?

With these ideas, I think these 3 t's—temper, tears, and tantrums—could be handled easily and efficiently. Read below

• When he was losing his temper and looked at me to expect shock, anger, and frustration--which was usually my reaction--I started looking at his eyes with a calm face for few seconds, to change the situation. He would get confused and would start smiling. If he was still angry, I used to laugh loudly, and he wouldn't be able to stop his smile.
• Children usually throw tantrums when they want something and we don't provide it. So, to teach him patience, I played his own game. When my son started communicating, he had just learned numbers 1 to 3. I gave him 2 pens in hand and asked him to give 3 pens back to me. He counted twice and gave 2 pens saying that he just had 2. I started throwing tantrums that I wanted 3. He couldn't understand what to do and slowly explained that he can't give me the 3rd one. We used this as a chance to explain that parents do have limited resources and thus it is not possible to buy everything, and only necessary things could be bought.
• We usually play mother- son games that is he is my mother and I am the adamant son. Gradually, I would bring in the issues we had and he now understood how difficult it was to deal with a situation sometimes.
• Now we discuss even our office problems with him, so he understands what we go through on a daily basis and also gives his own inputs—how to deal with a situation creatively and innovatively.
• Instead of telling him what to do, we ask him, what shall we do differently that will help him to make him feel important.

I feel today's children are more intelligent, mature and friendly. Their exposure is greater than our childhood days, and parenting is a journey we take together as a family, where the child's role is more important. Have a great parenting journey, it is a blessed journey and once in a lifetime opportunity to learn and grow at the same time.