Every mother’s worst nightmare is having a cart full of groceries and all of a sudden her toddler throws the worst tantrum in the history of temper tantrums. Of course, when you feel like everyone is staring at you, every tantrum is the worst isn’t it? Usually there is nothing you can do short of taking your child out of the situation, away from irritated bystanders, who are an audience for your toddler. There is no magic way to stop tantrums, but what you can do is try to prevent them. It’s always easier to prevent a tantrum than to interrupt one.
Toddlers are just like adults in many ways. They don’t like to be hungry. They don’t like to be overtired. They don’t like to be bored. Good behavior is always too much to ask from a small child when she is hungry, tired, bored, or worse, all of the above. The best thing you can do is to focus on taking care of those three factors before you ever step into a situation where a tantrum would be embarrassing or more likely to happen, such as the grocery store.
As difficult as it can be to stick to a nap schedule of some sort, the more you stick to it, the happier you will be. It can be inconvenient to plan everything around that long afternoon nap, but if you do, when you do leave the house, it will be a lot less stressful. I like to plan trips to the grocery store for those times that my son is fully rested. We either go right after breakfast or right after nap time. If we go right after nap time, I bring a large snack cup full of his favorite snacks, which he can eat while we’re running errands. I also make sure to pack a cup with water. 98% of the time, that is all it takes to keep him happy, even if we are in the store for a while. Snacks stave away both hunger and boredom.
In addition to snacks, we always bring plenty of toys. One trick I picked up from another mom was to keep certain toys in the car and keep them there. That way, kids are entertained by the toys longer because they are a special treat. One of the toys we keep in the car is his toy cell phone; it is definitely one of his favorites.
In my experience, a well rested and fed toddler with plenty to do will never throw a fit. (At least until he enters the “I want that” phase, but that’s another post entirely.)
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Tantrums! Screams! And Crying! Oh My!
The Strong Willed Toddler: My Experiences