My charming, cheerful, giggly 13-month old turned into a terrible two-year old - overnight!
She had a full-on temper tantrum this morning, complete with screaming, crying, and general theatrics. When it was finally over and we were on our way to day care, I bumped into a neighbour who lives behind us and 5-6 houses down the street. When I told her about the tanrum, she said "Oh! So it was H that I heard!" (Let me tell you, that kid can YELL.)
Anyway. The reason I'm giving myself a gold star is that I think I handled it quite well, all things considered. I was reading just the other day about the phrase "when you do X, I'll know you're ready for Y." So I tried it - "when you stop screaming, I'll know you're ready for a hug." I kept a discreet eye on her to make sure she wasn't hurting herself, then went about my business getting ready for work.
Every few minutes, I repeated the same phrase, then when she did stop screaming, I picked her up and gave her a hug. I had to repeat it a couple of times, because I had to keep putting her back on the floor (can't blowdry my hair while holding her, for example!). But on the whole, I think I did pretty well - at least I laid the groundwork for "screaming is not an acceptable way to get Mummy's attention."
Ohhh, it's going to be a long two years, though! :)
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Update: My source for the "when you...I'll know you're ready to..." phrase is here: http://bit.ly/aJihf
ReplyDeleteBut there are tons of others out there, apparently it's becoming quite a popular method. If you Google for it, you'll find lots of good tips and examples of how to use it.