Terrible Twos

Once Mr. C turned two it was like something came over him. It’s one thing to deal with a temper tantrum during a short period of time during the day (when caring for other children) in a controlled setting where it’s easy to walk away and ignore it. It’s another completely different situation when you have to constantly battle them in public places.

I wanted to take him to the park and other fun places, but the tantrums he would throw every time we had to leave almost made it not even worth the trip. I finally learned some tricks of the trade and developed a plan every time we went somewhere.

I would bring a favorable snack and when it was time to go I would give 10 and then 5 minute warnings. However, when it was actually time to go I would say let’s go get a snack in the car. Sometimes he would immediately say “No!” and then one second later he would say, “Okay!”

That’s another one of the most adorable things about Mr. C. For a long time he would never say yes it was always, “Okay!”

“Do you want to play with cars?” “Okay!” Do you want to eat lunch?” “Okay!” “Do you have to go potty?” “Okay!” Especially the way he says it, but anyways…

We still have some attempted tantrums when leaving a desirable place, but I always make sure to leave when we say we are going to regardless of the tantrum. Lately, I have been reminding him prior to going in or to a place that he needs to remain calm and not get upset when it is time to go or we won’t come back for awhile. Somehow he seems to understand this.

I have also found the some of the methods in the book 1-2-3 Magic to be very useful as well. It’s nice to only have to say a few words and end a tantrum in its tracks.