7 must-know facts about tantrums, straight from parenting genius Maggie Dent
Toddlers are brilliant little people who provide so much joy and love, but they can also be very, very challenging. In fact, if you’re a parent to a toddler, chances are life can feel a bit like a war zone at times with tantrums unleashing on the reg, sometimes over what seems like the most inconsequential things.
We chatted to parenting educator Maggie Dent about these toddler meltdowns, and she had these very helpful tantrum facts to share with mums and dads.
Teaching kids to actively channel difficult feelings can help
‘Emotion coaching‘ children so that they recognise and are able to label their feelings can also help them to express them in more constructive ways INSTEAD of having a full-blown tantrum.
“We want them to actually allow a big ugly feeling to do what it needs to do – and that is to leave the body,” Maggie Dent says.
“Later on, I’d probably recommend teaching them to stomp their foot and really own it, rather than kick their brother or their sister or throw things around and break things.”
Successful emotion coaching is grounded in connection and conversation with your child. You want to be talking about their feelings as often as you are able, to help them understand and eventually regulate their emotions.
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