How To Stop Toddler Tantrums is a question that has been puzzling parents since the dawn of time. Puzzle no more! This article has 7 proven strategies for reducing the length and intensity of your child’s outbursts.

It’s important to be realistic. Tantrums are a fact of life with young children, in fact they are a necessary part of learning emotional self-control.

Nobody can ever stop toddler tantrums completely. However, there are many things you can do to stop them taking over your life and ruining your child’s day:

1. Your attitude is all important. If you lose your temper or are overly concerned with what other adults think of your screaming child, you become less able to deal with tantrums.

2. Prevention is vastly better than cure. Are there any signs that a meltdown is in the offing? An increasingly angry expression on the toddler’s face while trying to do a puzzle that is too challenging for example.

3. Tantrum triggers such as supermarkets and anything sugary can be avoided - not all the time, but more often than you think. Try Internet shopping or fruit for dessert.

4. Keep calm when the tantrum is happening. Practical strategies to manage your own temper include walking out of the room (if you are at home and it’s not unsafe to do so) and keeping silent. This last one is far more effective than it sounds!

5. Ignore the emotional mount Vesuvius that your child has turned into. This is one of the most important things to do if you want to know how to stop toddler tantrums.

A tot without an audience has no reason to scream and shout. Comments like as ‘Oh - are you having a tantrum? That’s nice. I think I’ll have a cup of tea’ might help if this method seems impossible to put into practice.

6. Distraction is a very effective tactic: before, during or after the tantrum. It might not work in the middle of the screaming fit, but have a go anyway. Do a silly dance, laugh for no reason or hide under the table, giggling. Young children have such short attention spans - use this to your advantage.

7. Following the tantrum think about how you could have handled things differently. <em>Your</em> reactions to temper outbursts have a huge effect on how long and severe future outbursts are. Draw up up a checklist of causes, prevention and coping strategies - a kind of Tantrum Prevention Kit. This will go a long way to achieving this goal.

To sum up, tantrums are here to stay. However, it is possible to play down the effect that they have on your and your child’s life, both in how you prevent and respond to them.