Help Your Child by Understanding His/Her Needs
You can tackle frequent tantrums by preventing the root cause that leads to toddlers losing control of their emotions.
- Ensure that your baby gets a regular nap, even if you don’t see visible signs of sleepiness. Coax the baby into sleeping, especially if he/she has been playing for a long time. Sleep-deprived babies can be extremely cranky and irritated.
- Your baby needs regular nourishment. So, ensure their meal is not too full and is limited to three courses only. Balance and supplement their food with healthy snacks or easy munches periodically. This will help the child fight hunger pangs that he may not otherwise be able to express.
- Untimely snacks or a lot of junk food could cause an upset stomach and indigestion. Your child might not be able to explain or communicate and thus, be frustrated.
- Your baby needs diaper-free time or simply a change of diapers. It can get extremely discomforting for your baby to have a diaper on at all times.
- Your child may yell and cry because he/she is teething. Your baby may feel like biting or clenching his gums. Toddlers at a chewy age regularly put toys, clothes, etc in their mouths resulting in infections, weakness, and a cranky baby. Keep some teethers and sterilize them for your baby’s use.
- Help your baby at play when he tries to attract your attention or is unable to achieve something that can’t on his own. It can be as simple as arranging a set of building blocks or trying to insert a small car inside a bigger one. Remember to give your kids age-appropriate toys.
- A new place and strange circumstances can cause increased anxiety to a child, so be selective about the place you take your child to. If you are planning on eating out, ensure that the restaurant has a play area for the kids. Yes, parents do have to compromise on a lot to ensure that they raise a tantrum-free child. If the place you are visiting is not child-friendly, modify your plans or leave your baby with someone you can trust.
- You could, perhaps, try out a place first at non-peak hours to check how your child would adjust to it.
- If it’s a house visit involving lots of people, the very noise and chaos can put your child off and make him anxious. Too much cajoling by guests can make your baby uncomfortable. Lots of new faces can trigger emotional unrest. Therefore, do not force your baby to meet too many uncles and aunts. Let him literally grow into social occasions. The grown-ups will surely be sympathetic to your baby’s needs.
- Busy parents sometimes ignore their children’s bad habits or behavior in order to make up for the time they could have spent with the child, but ‘lost’ in office. It is important to be firm with your grown children if they leave their room or cupboard messy, and don’t finish the vegetables on their plate. However, do not try and implement a corrective measure on an already-charged, ‘bad’ day. You will not get positive results and for the worse, will seem like a changed person to your child.
