Tantruming Children..has it ever been yours?

[IWantMyMagicBand]

Only a little related but recently the dad of one of DS4's friends was having some trouble with his 4yr old girl. He said "When are you going to start listening to me?" Her answer: "Soon."

Ha! I can relate and recently posted on my facebook the following conversation after a day of the kids fighting and not doing as they are told (you know the one, it's a rainy school holiday, plans out the window and everything is just ugh)
My middle child was up and down at the dining table and knocked his water over and I voiced my frustration (it was also pmt time)
Me: Eliot! Do you really like me shouting at you?
E: No
Me: Why do you think I shout?
E: Because I don't do as I'm told.
Me: Yes! So what do YOU think YOU should do to stop me shouting?
E: Put some tape over your mouth??

I had to leave the room for a private chuckle, he is only four and to him it seemed the most logical thing to reply with. My husband once said he was going to explode. (He couldn't find his car keys) Eliot replied "you'd make a terrible mess if you did and mummy would have to clean it up!"

I'm a firm believer in humour as a diffuser, and I guess my kids pick up on this.

 

[Nemo14]

One of my favorite stories of my daughter growing up happened when she was about 3 1/2. I had told her to do something or not do something, but she didn't agree with me so I reminded her that I was the boss. Her reply was "Well, when I grow up and you grow down, I'LL be the boss!"

She's 28 now, and nearly a foot taller than me, but in my house, I'm still the boss!

 

[englanddg]

I had almost this exact convo with the kiddo around this age...



Like him, I lost...<sigh>

 

[zurgandfriend]

We usually got our DS out of the park and into the pool before any occured.You would be surprised how a little swin and a rest on a lounge chair with a strawberry smoothie worked wonders.

 

[jkl2000]

My two brothers and I didn't throw tantrums, and not much disciplining was ever necessary from my parents. My two boys ( 14 and 4) are pretty easy and reasonable. A fairly mellow family overall, especially when on vacation, weekends, etc. We find most of the stressors are removed.

 

[Raven66]

When we were kids we were not allowed to throw tantrums. Grocery store my mom would stand us in a row and tell us we were not allowed to ask for anything, touch anything and stay in a line behind her. We did as told. My mom's favorite tantrum story about me is that I would get mad and take my clothes off no matter where we were. My mom would be humiliated and run and make me put them on. My grandma told my mom to let me be and next time I did it they let me strip naked in the middle of the grocery store. Apparently never did it again.

Kid never had a tantrum. If she started I would ask her if she wanted to go to the bathroom with me. She would say no momma don't take me in there. Haha you would think I would beat her senseless. All I did was talk low and slow to her. For some reason that scared her.

 

[ninjaprincesst]

I have been taking mine since she was two, no tantrms, but she never has thrown tantrums. Her big behavior thing is stuburness, she could put the best of mules to shame with that. Myself, my Mom had the look,never knew what would happen if I ignored the look, just assumed it would be my imeadiate death in a very rapid and painful way so I never tested it.

 

[Megalodumb]

I still use "the look" and my kids are in their 20's!

I've got the feeling I've seen that look recently.

 

[UberPlannerMom]

I think the biggest fit my oldest son threw at Disney was at Tower of Terror. We were there for his third birthday and I had been encouraging him to eat his meals by telling him he needed them to grow. Well, he didn't quite make 40" in time. My husband decided he would ride anyway and leave me to wait with the boy. The entire time hubby was gone the boy cried. "Oh momma, get me some food. I'll eat it and grow right now! Momma, get me a drink! I want to grow!" I have no idea what the people walking by thought. We definitely avoided any rides he wasn't tall enough for, unless he was sleeping, the whole rest of the trip. It just hurt my heart to see him so disappointed. By the way, that story also includes something I have never forgiven my mother in law for doing. Boy had been eating and eating to grow. Hubby and I had been praying and hoping he would hit that magic 40" mark. My mother in law, thinking she surely knew what my child could handle better than I, was praying against us! I seriously got angry at her when I found out.

Another time it was just my daughter and I. It was new years eve so you know what the lines were like. Right as we got in the boat for its a small world she told me she needed to pee. Uh oh I thought. I begged her to hold it! She was barely 4 so she was fully potty trained but sometimes those emergencies pop up quickly. Murphy arranged for there to be a ton of boat back ups before we got out of there. That left me being the one making a scene as I raced out with her in my arms. I ran her to the bathroom only to discover that the line for a stall was every bit as long as the line for peter pan! I seriously just started screaming, "Pee pee emergency, everyone out of the way!" I just cut right through that line and took the stall that was being vacated. Sorry to anyone I cut in front of...

 

[IWantMyMagicBand]

I had almost this exact convo with the kiddo around this age...



Like him, I lost...<sigh>

These videos are pure genius....

 

[Weather_Lady]

Neither us nor our kids have ever had a tantrum at WDW -- we return to the hotel every afternoon for a nap so that nobody ever gets worn out, or stressed by having to deal with the crowds or the heat of the day between 1 and 4pm. For us, that's the "secret" to keeping everybody refreshed and happy.

 

[Susan Savia]

My two kids, now grown never had a tantrum in the parks. Once in a while they'd squabble over who's turn it was to sit in the front of the stroller (remember the old metal ones where the back laid down flat...one kid sat in the front, one facing rear). We didn't believe in taking all that time to leave the parks mid day for long breaks. If the younger one needed a nap, he'd sleep in the stroller. I believe they were just happy in that they were at Disney World!

 

[Mark In KY]

The only time my kids ever misbehaved at WDW was during a stay at the Beach Club. They were 4, 6 and 7 at the time. Their mother and the two oldest wanted to head to Epcot, the youngest took great exception to this and I gave him what I used to call a butt blast. One quick swat. We all enjoyed Epcot. They are now 27, 29 and 30 and he still disagrees with his brothers; just because he can.
Their mother and I however had one of our biggest fights ever at WDW. We were staying at Port Orleans and fought over doing laundry of all things. I can only postulate that we must of been really tired.

 

[ddrongowski]

It wasn't really a tantrum, that my son had when he was 4 years old, but more of a "lets see if I can be in charge and tell mom and dad what we are not going to do" thing. To fix this "testing of his boundaries",
1. I took him aside, had his back to a brick wall.
2. Squatted down to be at his level and looked him straight in the eyes.
I said to him, in that calm, steady, monotone and firm dad voice "You see this brick wall behind you?".
He looks at it and looked back at me and says "Uh huh(aka grunt for yep)" still thinking he had the upper hand.
Then I said "Well if you don't stop doing what your doing, I'm going to push you thru it, rebuild it while still holding onto you, and then pull you right back thru it, then I'm going to do it 3 more times".
His eyes got very VERY WIDE OPEN!
I then said "Do you understand how that is going to feel?".
He looks at the brick wall again and looked back at me and says "Uh huh(again aka grunt for yep)".
I then said "So your going to stop misbehaving now, right?"
and......
He says "yes sir".
Then we got back in line and had a wonderful vacation.

 

[ddrongowski]

I had almost this exact convo with the kiddo around this age...



Like him, I lost...<sigh>

My favorite video from them is still the "I'm the boss" one.

 

[docdebbi]

While tantrums have never worked for my grandkids (because my daughter just tells them time out when they misbehave and it doesn't start until they are sitting still in the time out place) both of the older kids would still periodically have them. Usually around two or three years old when they test the boundaries. One each in WDW by my reckoning. Each time we put them on time out, but of course, that does not mean they were QUIET during time out, so it was very embarrassing, but usually ended quickly. We just keep telling each other, that anyone passing by is proud of us for standing our ground rather than judging us for rotten kids. Hope we are right, but it makes us feel better.

Oh and there was the time the older one tried it in whispering canyon, wanted to play with the Lincoln logs instead of sitting at the table. We left! All the way back in the car he kept screaming (in his pathetic little 2 year old voice,) " you turn this car around right now, right now, I mean it, turn this car around and go back!" This litany lasted about 15 minutes. fortunately he cried himself to sleep before we got back to the hotel, or I might have one less grandson, my daughter was NOT amused

 

[Mark In KY]

I'm not from the "time out" generation of parents.

 

[Dog Ate Mouse]

Childeren at two and three do have tantrums and it can be over something like you said I like Blue when they wanted to hear there favorite color red.My Son and Daughter had tantrums, most of the time in the very beginning it was my fault learning the kids being hungry, tired or hot. I never was stern when these events happened but remained calm, and peacful. At this age and tantrum in full swing talking does no good. So I would just get the kids gathered up and told them we are going for a little time out together and would go and lay down. It's amazing how a cool room, dark with Mom and dad just being calm as can be can get them to cry it out, fall to sleep and when they woke up was as pleasent and loving as always. Then came the hugs and I am hungry and want chocalate milk, thank god for food courts and or chocalate milk ready to go in the fridge. Now my Grandson when he was younger had a tantrum or two and we seen it was due to being tired and over stimulated. Grandma always knows what to do and shown me how a quick bath with toys followed right by a nap stops and makes the grumpy's go away. Kids are kids and they just need a little TLC and extra special understanding at that age. You don't want to be stern or angry and you don't want to spoil them. It's hard for parents and it was for me. It all comes down how you as a couple handle the situation and support each other and never let the kids see anything differrent. After that age was always my favorite times with the kids and now grandson. It truly would be great if kids came with user manuals so you didn't always have to try and figure things out. But again that would probably be to easy (Sigh).

 

[SAV]

I had a couple that would be classified as a "funny" tantrum with my daughter. She was 2 for both of them. We parked on the very first day and got on the tram to MK. We pulled into the TTA and she starts screaming "CHOO CHOO RIDE", grasping on to the rail of the tram, not wanting to get off of it...having no idea what she was really in store for. I did get her off and away from there, but she was kicking and screaming. Then when inside MK, we wait for the old Dumbo. I did the thing where my wife took her ahead, I let 32 people ahead of me so I could then be on the next ride and my wife would take her off of Dumbo, hand her over the fence to me and she would get to ride again. Once again, she didn't want to get off and as she was handed over the railing to me so we could get back on she was screaming, kicking and whaling on me...until she realized she was getting right back on. I was surprised my glasses were still on and not broken.

An un-funny tantrum happened with my son. He was 1 or 2 at the time and we had been going commando all day. It was fine because he caught a nice long nap during the afternoon, so all was well. In fact it was great because he again fell asleep at about 9:00pm, so we figured we'd watch Spectro and then stay for the fireworks since he was knocked out. Yeah, bad move. He stayed sleeping a little bit into the fireworks, but then woke up just screaming and screaming. Unfortunately, we were near the Christmas shop and there was no way we were going to be able make a quick exit through the mass of people. We both did our best to get him to calm down, but he didn't have any part of it. He was wailing for the rest of the fireworks, through the exiting mass of people, in the Monorail line, the car ride back, in the room...a good 2 hours of him just losing it. We finally got him to sleep, but we were pretty wiped out from it as well. We never made that mistake again.

 

[Britt]

I had a couple that would be classified as a "funny" tantrum with my daughter. She was 2 for both of them. We parked on the very first day and got on the tram to MK. We pulled into the TTA and she starts screaming "CHOO CHOO RIDE", grasping on to the rail of the tram, not wanting to get off of it...having no idea what she was really in store for. I did get her off and away from there, but she was kicking and screaming. Then when inside MK, we wait for the old Dumbo. I did the thing where my wife took her ahead, I let 32 people ahead of me so I could then be on the next ride and my wife would take her off of Dumbo, hand her over the fence to me and she would get to ride again. Once again, she didn't want to get off and as she was handed over the railing to me so we could get back on she was screaming, kicking and whaling on me...until she realized she was getting right back on. I was surprised my glasses were still on and not broken.

An un-funny tantrum happened with my son. He was 1 or 2 at the time and we had been going commando all day. It was fine because he caught a nice long nap during the afternoon, so all was well. In fact it was great because he again fell asleep at about 9:00pm, so we figured we'd watch Spectro and then stay for the fireworks since he was knocked out. Yeah, bad move. He stayed sleeping a little bit into the fireworks, but then woke up just screaming and screaming. Unfortunately, we were near the Christmas shop and there was no way we were going to be able make a quick exit through the mass of people. We both did our best to get him to calm down, but he didn't have any part of it. He was wailing for the rest of the fireworks, through the exiting mass of people, in the Monorail line, the car ride back, in the room...a good 2 hours of him just losing it. We finally got him to sleep, but we were pretty wiped out from it as well. We never made that mistake again.

Love your honesty!! hahaha!