How do you handle your child's tantrums?

One of mine went through the terrible twos and I have to say that I used to get pretty embarassed when she threw a loud fit in public. I read once that if they are having a screaming tantrum and you get down and speak to them by whispering (I mean, you have to stick with it and not raise your voice even if they can't hear, but just continue to speak very softly to them) that they will stop their wailing to listen to you. It worked for me many, many times, at least long enough to allow me to evacuate the public place and get her out in the open or into her car seat.

Take a deep breath, ask her slowly to quiet down & ask her what's wrong? It can be so many things. She could be uncomfortable, hungry, bored, in pain...you might have to repeat yourself many times. I am sorry this is all I can tell you. I have a 2 yr old too, but he is going on 22. He pretty much lets me know everything. Too bad they didn't come with instruction manuals.

My daughter had temper tantrums when she was a toddler. If you know for a fact that she is fed, dry and healthy, then it is an easy fix. What I did was ignore the tantrum. It is a simple as that, when my daughter learned that I was not going to respond to her tantrum, they stopped. She would actually lay down in the floor, kicking and screaming. I would turn my back on her and pretend like I couldn't hear her. Believe me, one of the hardest things in the world is to turn your back on a crying child, but it works in a case like this. You will need tons of patience, maybe some ear plugs. Good luck.

That's a tough stage, where the child can't always verbalize what it is that they want/need. The way that I handle it is to stay calm and gently remind the child to "use her words" to tell you what she wants. If she can't do that, maybe have her take your hand and lead you over to what she wants. It's really just a matter of a communication gap. Once she figures out how to communicate with you, the tantrums will decrease.