Like Fury - temper tantrums

Temper tantrums are part of normal child development. Although it's easy to suppose that tantrums are signs of spoiling and that the child's parents must be doing something wrong, there's no doubt that most toddlers do have them, however 'good' or 'bad' their parents' childrearing practices may be.

Full-blown tantrums can be a horrid and frightening experience for children and they are often upsetting for adults to watch too, so it's natural to hope that we can find a way of helping children out of the tantrum as soon as possible.

Ages and stages

Parents' response

Parents vary widely in how they manage a tantrum. They may try to distract or cuddle their child out of it, they may smack them, ignore them or try to reason with them as the child gets older. Smacking usually only makes children angrier, so parents may experiment to discover which response works best for them and their child. Prevention may be easier than cure. When parents are feeling on top of things they can often anticipate what might trigger a tantrum in their child and by applying some thought they can avoid it. The same is true in the nursery. There will be more tantrums when staff are under pressure and there's no time to think.