Your Clever Toddler in Week 96: Prepare Yourself for Tantrums

It's universally inevitable: Your toddler will most definitely throw tantrums of impressive scale over the coming years. So instead of just ignoring your child's wails or trying to forcefully punish away the behavior, try these moderate steps at intervening:

• Stay calm. Don't get emotionally involved in the tantrum, yourself, lest you lose your own cool and exacerbate the situation. Breathe deeply, and just observe your child's reactions as neutrally as you can.
• Recognize your child's frustration and give him language to make sense of it, himself: "I know you wanted those scissors, and you are mad that I took them away. I can't let you hurt yourself with them."
• Stay near your toddler until the tantrum passes. Just offering your proximity reinforces your concern without overbearingly controlling her behavior.

These three simple steps offer your child the emotional protection and support she needs to manage her own frustrations, which will in time curb the frequency of temper tantrums. To get a head start on addressing your toddler's mercurial fits, read through this 7-Week Guide to Taming Temper Tantrums.

Coming soon, look forward to: Week 97: Awareness of Adult Standards
Review the most recent accomplishments: Week 95: Completing Tasks

Curious about how else your toddler might be developing right now? Learn more about her clever brain and her growing body here:

• What's happening in Month 23?
• Here's what our pediatrician says you might be worried about this month.