{"id":5738,"date":"2021-10-13T12:22:13","date_gmt":"2021-10-13T16:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mlparentcoach.com\/?p=5738"},"modified":"2021-10-13T12:22:13","modified_gmt":"2021-10-13T16:22:13","slug":"how-do-i-deal-with-a-2-year-old-who-has-tantrums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mlparentcoach.com\/new\/parenting\/how-do-i-deal-with-a-2-year-old-who-has-tantrums\/","title":{"rendered":"How do I deal with a 2-year-old who has tantrums?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Q:\u00a0<\/b>My daughter is 2, and she’s kind of a little tyrant. She routinely melts down by sobbing (no tears), screaming, kicking and falling to the floor. This I can usually ignore, or I’ll get down with her and try to hug her. It’s when she hits, kicks, bites or throws something that I feel my blood boil. She recently bit two kids in her class. What do I do about the physical behavior issues?<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

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A:\u00a0<\/b>Oh boy, do I know how you feel. It\u2019s not hard to remember raising my own children at this age, and, trust me, I can still picture the gashes and scratches from those days. Not fun.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

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Per usual, I\u2019m going to start with how to understand a 2-year-old. In my opinion, 2-year-olds get a bad rap; they are purely emotional, have almost no consideration for anyone else and can quickly go from laughing to crying, but other than that, they are the sweetest. Their curiosity, cuddliness and unabashed love for their caregivers can easily (hopefully) offset the tantrums.<\/p>\n

Parents deem the impulsiveness and aggression of 2-year-olds as misbehavior, but this is simply the reflection of their maturing mind struggling to find itself. Although no one enjoys tantrums and being hit (and I will never recommend that you allow yourself to be smacked, kicked or hit), we have two choices in the moment: to help your young one feel safe and encouraged, or to help your child feel unheard and discouraged.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What makes a 2-year-old feel safe? For us parents, this is complicated. Because children this age have limited language, too much parental talk tends to add frustration to an already fraught situation, so I don\u2019t recommend trying to be rational or \u201ctalking her out of\u201d being upset. See it as yelling at a storm: It doesn\u2019t help.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Rather than doing this and increasing frustration, try taking an open stance with her. If she is swinging or thrashing, stay safe yourself, but try to get on her level with a calm face. Your energy and body language communicate that you are lovingly waiting for the storm to pass; this will make your daughter feel safe and therefore calmer. When she calms down, hug her until you both feel at\u00a0ease, then keep the day moving.<\/p>\n

[sc name=”Button Conflict to Cooperation Right”]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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As for the biting at school, unless you sit there in class and follow her around, there isn\u2019t anything you can do. And because 2-year-olds are impulsive, there isn\u2019t anything you can say at home that she will remember in school. Her brain isn\u2019t there yet.<\/p>\n

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Here is the hard part of parenting: If you take the gentle \u2014 yet firm \u2014 road, it will take longer, but your 2-year-old will stop biting. She will find new ways to express herself, because it\u2019s safe to do so with her caretakers. If we are punitive, violent and angry, we may see short-term results, but we will ultimately raise the very child we are seeking to \u201cfix\u201d: a child filled with fear, anger and frustration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The school should be used to biting, and it should have a plan in place to protect your daughter and others. Bites happen, but catching her before her frustration spills over, redirecting her or taking her out of a situation should be the name of the game.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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If you can look at what precedes the meltdowns, you can get ahead of your 2-year-old, and she will begin to feel calm. Assuredly, a 2-year-old can begin to lose it for the most basic reasons, such as fatigue or not wanting to leave the park. But try to use humor, distraction, creativity, magical thinking and cuddles to help her transition.<\/p>\n

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When the going gets really bad, your primary move is to keep yourself safe from her feet, fists and teeth while also keeping yourself calm. Depending on how you were raised and your\u00a0own buttons, you may be tempted to put your daughter in a timeout, but trust the process.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/b>Timeouts, in theory, started as a way to put a break into fits and tantrums. They weren\u2019t meant to\u00a0shame; they were meant as a time of attunement with your child. But, somewhere along the way, we began to believe that our very young and immature children would \u201clearn their lesson\u201d by sitting on a step and that they would connect their separation from family or toys to their bad behavior. However, very young children cannot do that. They feel panicked, no lessons are learned, and their tantrums and aggression become worse.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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If you stay calm, loving and present (while not allowing yourself to be hit), your daughter will get through this stage. Good luck.<\/p>\n

Find this on <\/span>The Washington Post<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking for more parenting support? Click <\/span>Here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sign up for my<\/span> Newsletter here<\/span><\/a> to get this in your inbox every week!<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Q:\u00a0My daughter is 2, and she’s kind of a little tyrant. She routinely melts down by sobbing (no tears), screaming, kicking and falling to the floor. This I can usually ignore, or I’ll get down with her and try to hug her. It’s when she hits, kicks, bites or throws something that I feel my blood boil. She recently […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[125,27,301],"tags":[671,322,270,271,584,762,277,13,592,591,291,10,593],"class_list":["post-5738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-childhood-behavior","category-parenting","category-washington-post","tag-2-year-old","tag-behavior","tag-children","tag-hitting","tag-meghan-leahy","tag-meghan-leahy-advice","tag-misbehavior","tag-parent-coach","tag-parenting-advice","tag-parenting-tips","tag-tantrums","tag-washington-post","tag-washington-post-parenting"],"yoast_head":"\nHow do I deal with a 2-year-old who has tantrums?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My daughter is 2 she routinely melts down by sobbing (no tears), kicking and falling to the floor. 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