Bona Vista's Child Care Solutions

Spring is here. The flowers are in bloom, the sun is shining, and temper tantrums are escalating. That is right; it is not just your imagination, temper tantrums do get worse in the spring. When the seasons change children are more sensitive to the atmospheric shifts and his or her behavior often reflects this sensitivity. So what do you do with those baby meltdowns?

It is important to keep in mind that tantrums are normal for all young children, but that does not mean that adults are powerless when they occur. The first step in helping your child(ren) through a tantrum is to understand what the cause of the tantrum is.

The most common cause of temper tantrums in toddlers and two year olds is a child’s frustration at his or her inability to communicate. Children in general, but toddlers in particular, become frustrated when he or she is attempting to communicate a need or desire with someone and the other person does not understand. For example, your toddler feels hungry and would like a snack. He or she points to the counter and grunts. You think he or she wants the toy you placed on the counter earlier and hand that to him or her. He or she knows then that his or her communication attempts have failed and suddenly you have a screaming terror on your hands.

Chances are if you have a toddler, this sounds familiar. So what are you to do? Prevention is your best course of action. Work on helping your child expand his or her vocabulary by talking to your child every day. Try to expand on babbling and grunts by saying things like, “Oh do you want to hold the spoon?” rather than simply handing them the spoon. Learning a few simple baby signs and teaching them to your child can also make a huge impact. Because children develop coordination in their hands and arms before they develop the mouth coordination necessary for speaking, a very young child can use a few simple signs to communicate his or her needs before they can talk. Teaching your child how to say more, eat, and drink, for example, can alleviate much of your child’s frustration and thereby, decrease the number of tantrums. Not only will this help decrease the number of tantrums, but research shows that baby signs can also help children build a stronger spoken vocabulary over the first three years of life. Bona Vista’s Child Care Solutions offers free one hour classes on baby sign. If you think this might be helpful to you and your child call, 1-800-493-3231 to schedule a class.

It is also important to remember that a child who is struggling with a communication delay may need additional support. A child should be babbling and imitating sounds by eight months, saying a few words by 12-15 months, and should have a vocabulary of more than 25 words by the time he or she is 24 months old. If you are concerned that your child is not speaking, or is struggling with speech, you can have a developmental screening done to ensure that your child’s development is on track. First Steps in Indiana offers free developmental screenings to all children under that age of three. If you are located near the Kokomo or Peru areas Bona Vista also offers free developmental screenings.You can also always talk to your child's pediatrician about the best place to have a screening done in your area. If you are concerned about your child’s speech or any other area of development, please contact a professional to have a developmental screening done.

With a better understanding of tantrums, you can approach your little one with a new mindset. Ultimately helping you tame those temper tantrums.