The process of growing from childhood into adulthood is filled with milestones! We celebrate the birth of a child, the first steps, new teeth, first words, and then we discover the first meltdown, or perhaps a full-blown temper tantrum. Children need the help of the adults in their life to help them manage the big emotions that come with exploring their ever-changing environment.
Children learn through play, and that play can be frustrating when they realize things may not always go their way. When they reach their limit, they are likely to go back to those raw behaviors like crying, screaming, grabbing, pinching. These are the earliest ways children know to communicate, and they become the way to communicate to adults that something is wrong.
Parents using an authoritative style of parenting may wonder “what” the child is trying to communicate through the “melt down”. (Check out last week’s post to learn more about parenting styles). Parents who explore why the behavior occurred can help their child work through the situation. A meltdown or tantrum can be triggered by many things: being in a new or challenging situation; a change in routine; hunger, lack of sleep, even the inability to communicate verbally.
Even adults can experience sensory overload in the environment including: crowds, noise, mass media and technology. When we feel overwhelmed, it may send us into an emotional meltdown.
Parents will usually be able to identify some of the early warning signs of an impending emotional meltdown. Identifying the triggers can help to ease the outcome. The Science of Parenting hosts share several strategies for preventing a meltdown before it starts in this week’s podcast episode. A few simple ideas include having a snack available, a place to rest, a place for quiet time; keeping the routine in place; providing verbal warnings of expected changes; and teaching feeling words.
In addition, offering your child choices may help them feel in control. And when all else fails, parents who can offer children acceptable alternatives to screaming and hitting or pinching, will model that it is ok to have big feelings and that we can find ways to manage without hurting another.
