Toddler meltdown in a public place

We had an incident of toddler meltdown at a restaurant over the weekend. The Tantrum reared its ugly head when the Toddler wanted to hold a glass of ice; not happy with one ice cube only!

We tried to divert her attention, and made a few jokes. Luckily it did not last for too long.

When I looked at the photos again, I saw the bothered faces in the background.  Not impressed at all!




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Taking the toddler to places and the T-dance

Taking the toddler to places and the T-dance

Nowadays we have to think twice about where we are going. We try to not let the toddler influence our decisions, but she does! And it’s fine for now. This too will pass! We can take the teen anywhere! (Wink-wink!) We know it will only be for a short while...

I had a bit of a bad experience with the toddler and her tantrums at the hairdresser on Friday. The teen went for a special deal at a new place. There were only two chairs to sit in, and one of the chairs had a Halloween spider web draped over it, and we were warned that it could get stuck in our hair. The toddler was afraid of the toy spiders in the web. So we couldn’t sit there, and the toddler wanted to walk around... (We are so not going to that hairdresser again! Not only was their service and hair cutting very poor, but they are definitely not in the business of people...) I had to drive home with the toddler, and go and fetch the teen later. I thought the T-dance was not so bad, but there was definitely a meltdown in that shop...

Ever felt a bit red-faced when leaving with a screaming toddler? That was it on Friday for me!

Yesterday we went for breakfast at Rusty Hook, very near to our “valley”. The toddler enjoyed looking and feeding the ducks and birds. We have some overcast weather here, but no real rain yet! Who would have thought that we could miss the rain so much!

The toddler had lots of fun putting stickers on her Dad. Who knew that a sticker book can bring so many hours of keeping-the-toddler-busy? A sticker book is now a standard item in the nappy bag, not only the nappies. 1. Nappies! Check. 2. Stickers! Check.

The big thing is; we do not let the toddler limit us going to places. We need to get out, and the toddler needs to learn how to behave in different situations. The toddler also enjoys any activity, and even more when we point out interesting things to look at. Interesting can be anything from birds, to insects, to cars to motorcycles... As long as we enjoy making her aware of it! She enjoys it even more!

Luckily there were not that many temper T’s yesterday. It sure depends on her levels of being tired!

(Photos taken at Rusty Hook on Sunday)

The T-dance - the toddler and tantrums

The toddler goes into tantrum meltdown a couple of times a day. I like to call it the T-dance. The face goes into a wail. She stamps her feet. The very LOUD shriek!

Shame! It must be so very frustrating not to be able to communicate. Or to find that not everything goes according to “Toddler”! The toddler begins to realize that her universe does not revolve around herself... Come to think of it... It must be a huge shock!

We try mostly to redirect her attention. As soon as she is focused on something else, all is well again. It usually happens within a split second!

At the moment she loves “washing the dishes” with us. As soon as she sees that one of us is busy in the kitchen, she starts by moving the foot rest that we usually use for her to stand on. When we try to tell her that we are not busy washing the dishes, she goes into the T-dance. But when we start playing ball with her, or show her the horsey to ride on, all is well again...

I do not think the tantrums are such a problem that everybody says it is. Maybe we are lucky that Mieka does not go into complete meltdown. A friend complains that her son hits his head against the wall! That sounds a bit scary. We try not to let her T-dance for too long before we help her to focus her attention on something else. I think that is a good way of dealing with the Tantrum! We tell her “No!”, and “That’s not nice!” We don’t give her a hiding or discipline her in any other way when she has a tantrum. I don’t think it is necessary, and so far it has worked!

What is other ways of dealing with a toddler throwing a tantrum?

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