You would think we are not getting enough sleep because of my little boy needing to nurse throughout the night, but in fact it is completely the opposite, he is quite good in the night (for now) and rather it is his teething sister that has decided to keep us awake at 3ish in the morning. I think she is also throwing tantrums or fits whenever something goes slightly not her way or wrong in her mind. Yesterday must have been the worst day ever for all of this! I have never gotten so frustrated with her since Aaron was born, but she was utterly impossible to soothe...crying to screaming, etc for nearly the whole day. Ugh, it has left both Jett and myself very tired and it certainly doesn't help when your trying to take care of a newborn.
Today however, she has been almost the opposite with a few fits during the beginning of worship this evening...I hope no more are to come but you never know with an 18month old!! Anybody have advice on how to treat this little ladies tantrums?? I'm all open for it!
So here is a pic of the wee upset Amelia...
And then a pic of a drink Daddy decided to give Amy.
This was the outcome of this "drink"...
And what was this "drink"? Take a guess...:)
Well, blogger isn't letting me post the rest of the pics so will have to do that in a new post... :)
2 comments:
In all my dealings with tantrumming (lol...that's not a word) toddlers, I've found that the very best method to deal with the tantrum is to look at the child, be sure they're not hurt, and calmly say that you do not appreciate their current behaviour and you will be leaving them to sort it out. When they are ready to behave calmly and appropriately, they will be allowed to rejoin you. Then... walk away and ignore. If the child follows you in order to continue the tantrum, place them in a separate room/play pen/whatever can contain them and allow you to walk away. It gets the message across pretty fast most times, because they generally want the attention the tantrum is getting. Of course, there's always the child who has a two hour fit... but they come around eventually. The key (I've found) is to not give in and reward the bad behaviour with positive attention unless they are actually injured.
That advice would be what I learned while being a nanny to 1 to 1 1/2 year old boys (twins) and their 2 1/2 to 3 year old sister... and also while looking after many other toddlers and preschoolers.
But, of course, a newborn is a pretty significant change, as well! So some of the behaviour is probably related to the new addition to your family, and you'll probably have to just ride some of it out. Just make sure she's still getting some positive alone time with mummy and daddy (either together or separate, without Aaron) when there was no tantrum leading up to it so she knows she isn't being replaced, and that the positive attention isn't going to come out of having a tantrum. Reading a book, singing a song, going for a walk... whatever. It's hard when they can't tell you how they feel about things, isn't it??
(BTW: I feel really weird giving advice when I don't have any kids of my own, lol! I just know this works!)
I know another method that for dealing with this issues that works :-) but I'm not comfortable discussing it on a public forum.
Suffice to say my children don't have tantrums in front of me. At least not twice.
It is important, obviously, to understand any underlying upset that is upsetting your child, and to be responsive to it; but if you believe your child is behaving in a sinful manner, the bible does not suggest "calmly telling them their behavior is unacceptable". (Again, at least not at toddler stage; maybe when they are 21: -)
I do agree with Melissa, that having no children of her own, she can only offer advice from a "child carer/nanny" viewpoint; and that is very different from a parental viewpoint.
I am very aware that the responsibilities I have to my children are different from those I have to other people's children; and I would never treat other people's children as my own.
(nor would I expect a third party like a nanny to treat my children as tho they were the parent)
In the end, the parents have to be united in agreement as to what is the biblical way forward.
love
H
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