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Throwing Fits:

Toddlers tend to throw fits, or temper tantrums, on a pretty regular basis. This is actually one of the most talked about topics out there. When your child is throwing a fit, you have two options: immediate punishment or completely ignoring them. There are no other options here. You can not, no matter what, give in to the fit, because, if you do, it will become a repeated behavior.

Unfortunately, if you don't follow one of the two options (ignoring or immediate punishment), this means that you will be doing something such as bribing them to behave or pleading with them to do what you ask and stop throwing the fit. If you do any of these things, the attention that the fit is getting them will make them inevitably do it again in the future.

So, if you want the fits to stop as quickly as possible, you must follow one of the two options mentioned above. Here are a couple of ways to enforce these:

• Ignoring the fit—this is something that not everyone can do, because fits or tantrums most often happen in public. So, sure, you are trying to do the right thing by ignoring your child, but the other patrons might not agree that the screaming child should be allowed to stay in the store. It is also very important that you know in advance what you are getting yourself into by choosing this method: toddlers can cry for a very long time. So, be prepared for stares of strangers and a kid that can be loud for a very long period of time before you try to implement this tactic.

• Immediate punishment—there are several ways to do this, it just depends on what type of punishment you want to enforce and where you are at when the tantrum begins.

When it happens in a store, you should leave immediately. Most kids at this age love shopping, so if they are forced to leave every time they begin to throw a fit, they will soon realize that the fit isn't worth giving up the shopping trip. If you are at home or at someone’s house when it occurs, you should either sit them in timeout (or whatever form of punishment you use) immediately, or completely ignore it. Once your child realizes that they will either receive no response or only bad response, it will not happen as often.

Using one of these methods is not guaranteed to work, just as nothing is guaranteed with toddlers. But, it will hopefully result in your child moving out of this phase more quickly than if you gave in to the tantrums.

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