Eddie has started throwing temper tantrums. I have heard from both of Eddie's healthcare professionals (his pediatrician and his physical therapist), that it will only get worse before it gets better. In light of this horrifying knowledge, Dave and I have been trying to think of ways to manage Eddie's rage issues. In the past couple of weeks, Eddie has developed a new tactic during these moments of insane anger—if you're holding him, he arches his back and throws his legs and arms back, making it virtually impossible to hold him. If you try to set him down, he remains arched, which puts him into a nice back bend, using his knees and head for support. Generally when he is in one of these fits, he won't let you hold him and he won't let you set him down. The only solution we had found thus far is to scramble around trying to figure out what he wants and give it to him.I realize that this is only rewarding the terrible behavior, so today Eddie drove me to trying a new tactic. He started his temper tantrum and, when I couldn't get him to settle down, I put him in his crib and left the room to let him calm himself down. I decided that I would stay out until he stopped screaming or for 5 minutes, whichever came first. After 3 minutes, he was quiet, so time out was over.
This left Dave and I wondering again about the best way to handle these situations. So, loyal readers, we turn to you for help. Do you put your kids in time out? If not, how do you control your kids? If so, how early did you start? What exactly do you do and how long does the punishment last? Unfortunately, we have not been able to find an Anger Management course for toddlers, so we need your help! We await your comments...
5 comments:
I think you handled that like a pro. When we put our kids in time out they have to stay there the number of minutes they are old.
Here's what we plan on doing with Ellie, when the time comes:
Problem solved
We put Calvin against a wall, any wall and that is time out. In the beginning we set a timer, and they usually say that you do how many minutes for how old they are. This works great and know when we say go to time out, he goes to a wall and sits, now instead of a timer he has to stay in time out until he stops screaming. It works for us, but you never know what works for one does not work for the other. Good Luck!
Sounds like that works if it only took him 3 minutes to calm down. I like the wall idea, because then the crib doesn't become a punitive place and it works anywhere that has a wall (like Grandma's or church or something). When he's like that make sure to protect your nose because one back-arching-head-butt might just break your nose and cause you to have rage issues of your own. And if you have any ideas how to handle 5 month old rage, let me know! Miles's rage usually surfaces when I am trying to feed him.
I don't understand how you could get a kid to stay by the wall. I only put Eddie in his crib because it is the only safe place that can contain him without me having to physically restrain him.
Also, I did get a head-butt to the nose the other day during our regional conference. I almost said a bad word in the middle of Elder Hales' talk!
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