Dear Tantrums, I want my baby back!
What is a tantrum exactly?
I have seen them before at grocery stores or the mall. A child is screaming, crying and kicking their legs as the mother tries a number of things to get them to stop. I used to try hard not to stare. I used to think "What the heck?! Good thing that will never be me!"
Fast forward to now.
I have recently found myself in the midst of 'Melt-Down City' and my son, my seemingly sweet son has become mayor and is determined to make me go insane. Long story short...if he doesn't get his way he does the following;
`takes a deep breath
`falls to the floor
`begins to scream/moan
`huge crocodile tears flow down his face
`legs start kicking everywhere
OH! So that is a tantrum! Got it.
Well, how do we deal with them? Or more importantly, how do we get them to STOP?! Every parents tactic is different. I'm not about to open that can of worms...Because most likely every parent thinks their tactic is right. Here is what I am currently doing...ignoring it. I let him have his moment. So far the longest 'moment' lasted 8 minutes in the cleaning supply aisle at Target. Ryan snatched a multi-purpose cleaner and stuck it in his mouth. I said "Oh no that's yucky! Yuck!" I put it back on the shelf and BOO-YA the storm hit. I continued shopping and he finally stopped when we were checking out. So embarrassing!
I have found that if I ignore his melt downs he eventually stops and realizes I am not giving in.
"After all that! Mom you are still not paying attention to me and you STILL won't let me play with whatever I want??...Ok fine."
The hardest part about this is feeling helpless. Usually when your baby cries you fix it. Now when my baby cries he is trying to get his way. Sometimes, I start to cry myself. Sometimes. I feel so overwhelmed I cant think. Sometimes, I want to scream myself and lay on the floor kicking my legs. Instead I muster whatever strength I have and walk away.
If you see me out, don't stare or judge. Just hand me a paper bag to put over my head.