Toddlers: 24 Months+
Tantrums how to deal!?
My son loves to be outside. If we go anywhere he will find his outside toys and run around in the yard when we come home. A lot of the time the baby will need me or it's close to lunch nap etc. so we need to go inside. I will tell him ahead of time that we need to go in, but he will avoid me and continue playing. I'm forced to go pick him up to go in. He doesn't come when he is called yet. He will throw a screaming fit every time! What can I do to calm the storm?
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Re: Tantrums how to deal!?
Nothing. Just carry on. Give him the chance to come in when told and if (when) he doesn't, go and get him.
Ignore the tantrum (as hard as that is).
It'll get better. Eventually.
I deal with tantrums all the time. DS has sensory issues so we deal with them daily. The things that have helped us is warning DS. It may not work right away but you have to start somewhere. So tell him he has five minutes left to play then in a couple of minutes tell him he has three minutes and so on. He may scream the first few times but preparing him should help. Stick to bringing him in when his time is up. Also, setting a timer saying when the timer rings it is time to be all done with ___. (<----fill in the blank) Just be consistent with following through with him being done with whatever he is doing.
Good luck I KNOW its hard.
That's about how DS's time outs go too. I also try to ask him "do you know why you're in time out?" and 9 times out of 10 he knows exactly why "was screaming at mommy" or "hit mommy" or "didnt listen and ran away..." etc.
I agree with this. Ignore the bad behavior, but also consider what that behavior is communicating and see if there is a "need" it is expressing and try to meet it without rewarding the tantrum.
I think it would be beneficial to put into your daily routine a time to do that. So if you can give him 20 minutes in the yard after lunch when baby is sleeping, make that his yard time. Then when you come home, remind him yard time is after lunch.
Or give him 5 minutes every time you come home and bring him in after 5 minutes. This would take planning, but if it's always ok, he doesn't have to be sneaky/dodging. I'd just tell him before you unbuckle him that you're setting the timer for 5 minutes. Tantrums may happen about coming in, but you can eliminate the build-up and planning for evasion.
Or simple take the baby in first before unbuckling him and then carry him in and make it so he can not get away with running away.
This is what I do. I'll explain why mommy strapped her back in the stroller or mommy brought her back inside when she is calm. They are just testing us right now...they want to see how far they can get away...