From the article: Ten Ways to Tame a Temper Tantrum
All kids get temper tantrums. But when your child has special needs, those behavioral storms can be more confounding, more damaging, and more difficult to guard against. Have you found a good way to tame the tantrums and manage the meltdowns? Share Your Strategies
Fire Drill for Rages
- For our dd, she could feel her body changing when she was moving into a rage. First we removed/redirected her from whatever it was and as she grew older she learned to remove herself from the frustration/overwhelming issue at hand. Second - We used massage to calm and she told me which type of touch she needed - 1. Deep pressure massage to her feet and hands 2. Light (very very light) circular touch on her hands, feet, back and face. I let her direct me how to meet her needs -letting her to know she is safe.
- —Guest Jodee Kulp
Diffusing a Temper Tantrum!
- Whenever I see a tantrum coming,there are 2 strategies I have used which have proved to be very effective in the case of my son,aged 7 years,who had ADHD and other issues as well. One is i start giving him a gentle massage by rubbing on his arms,shoulders and back which has a calming effect on him. Second thing which i do along with it is to distract him with something interesting or divert his attention to do something positive and he gets engrossed in it,thereby forgetting about his tantrum!
- —Guest Dr.Jyothi
Music
- We have a CD of quiet and soothing music that works really well to calm my daughter when she's feeling upset. I keep a copy in the car so that if we're in a public place, we can cut out to the car and listen to calm her down. I'm planning to put it on an iPod one of these days, too. We call it her magic music.
- —Guest MisterDoo
Clap On, Clap Off
- When my son is starting to go out of control, I can sometimes get him back with a couple of loud claps. It surprises him and gets his attention.
- —Guest Anne
Time Out
- Things like yelling or spanking just stress my child out and make her behavior spiral further out of control. We have had pretty good luck with time-outs, though. Just walking away from the situation and kind of unplugging the emotion of the moment helps a lot, for her and me too.
- —LizBeth
temper tantrums
- I try to calm him (4 1/2 yr. old boy) down by soothingly, and speaking to him eye-to-eye, let him know his feelingsd are valid, not the way he expresses his anger or dissapointment. I really hate to yell and his mother is really a "non-yeller", so I don't know where he gets this screaming and temper tantrums from to get his way. I do believe in a firm spanking on the behind every now and then, (they don't know we can't and will not spank/hit any harder). I was brought up in the 60's when we got the paddle stick from our school principals for minor offences! It kept us in line and we thought twice before doing anything else. My point is when done in LOVE and for the right reasons, not out of coming home in a bad mood, then a smack on the tush (and ONLY THERE) is fine in my opinion. they are KIDS, and are still learning. It's up to us to show them, lead the way. WE have to show/teach them how to react so we dont hear about how some kid picked up a gun cause he had a "temper tantrum"!
- —Guest lupe
