Discipline or Distraction?

Miss Kylah has been throwing the mother of all tantrums lately and im not sure what to do about them. What i do know is i do not want them to continue.
It all happens when you say no, or move her away from something she shouldnt be touching/doing.
She actually screams really really loud, then starts crying, lying on the floor yelling and screaming, crying some more and just being all round angry!

What should i do, atm i just ignore it, not look at it and wait for her to calm down, then get down to her level and explain that we dont scream and yell like that and that there is no need for that behaviour.

But then shes still young maybe im doing it wrong?

What would you do?

my neice has been put in time about since about that age. they dont understand at first but if you are consistant they pick up on it real quick. it means they dont get rewarded for naughty behaviour ie, getting new toys for being naughty or getting your attention when you are needing to do something else ie cook tea. she may be a bit young but it does work really well for miss T.

monikah - thats what i was thinking about the distraction as well, it would almost seem to her that she is being rewarded for the naughty behaviour by me distracting her with toys and stuff.

But when she was younger and she used to get herself worked out when crying she would choke and vomit, we used to go out on the balcony and look around and talk, that usually distracted her, so im thinking something along those lines maybe

I do the go outside thing too .. they soon forget why they were grumpy in the first place.

I think what you are doing is the right track Kandice, personally everytime I have seen the "distraction " method work , it lasts for 5 minutes anyway.

What you are teaching her now is that , 1) you wont watch her tantrum, which takes the point out of it anyway , and 2) that you are the boss and you make the rules in your house.

My friend, her daughter is the boss of her house. Believe me, she would be the first to say you don't want that .

Edited by caitlynsmygirl

It is hard to get DH to 'follow the rules' isn't it!

I generally try and distract Jack if he is doing something he shouldn't and telling him the leave it alone doesn't work. We don't tend to get tantrums. Once a tantrum started though I would do as you are and ignore it. In your situation I would probably only use distraction to avoid a tantrum not once it has started

At that age I would remove them from the room so that the attention factor is lost. I put that age into the hallway or their bedroom without shutting the door and they can come back when they have settled down. Sometimes I'll repeat that but my girls quickly got the idea that tantruming wasn't much fun.

I would be more inclined to redirect/distract rather than use solitary confinment (time out/naughty spot) I would only use it as a last resort & rather give positive guidance through praise & encouragement to reinforce desired behaviors.
I would show empathy toward them & help them to regonise & express their emotions in appropriate ways & support them in finding a solution