Miss P has always had a bit of a temper. To be honest, both Rich and I can be accused of being hot-headed so it’s not really surprising.  But Miss P loses her cool with all of the passion of a 19 month old with no idea how to express her emotions properly and no feeling of restriction on socially acceptable behaviour.

She is very much a hitter, either herself or me, and has recently started on the I-will-throw-myself-on-the-floor-and-scream-and-cry-and-kick-until-I-run-out-of-energy.  I have to admit that some days there has been a very small part of me that has been impressed with her stamina. The girl can certainly make a lot of people know that she isn’t happy.

We do all of the usual ignoring, removing, distracting and so on but the only thing that seems to work is time. Time for her to calm down. I know that most of the time sheer frustration is behind her actions, either at not being able to communicate properly what she wants or at being told she can’t have or do something.

The tantrum photographed above was because I found her getting all of the DVDs out and I was putting them back. This was apparently the end of the world and it was communicated to me in Terrible Toddler fashion that I was a Bad Mummy and Life Is Not Fair (am I getting a taste of how it is going to be once the teenage years make their presence felt?!).

I know she’s at a stage where she’s testing the boundaries of her world and I just need to hang on in there and ride it out. I know I need to remember each time that I am the adult and need to show her where the boundaries are. I know I need to show her what is acceptable and what isn’t but occasionally the thought of joining her on the floor for a shout and a stomp is very tempting!

So, please share. Any toddler tantrum taming tips or is a bottle of wine and bar of chocolate the only answer? For me. Obviously.