Toddler Tantrums are a Rite of Passage Most Parents Mistake for Bad Behaviour

Toddler tantrums are a Rite of Passage that most parents mistake for bad behaviour.

Even when you know that toddler tantrums are just a part of everyday toddler life. It can feel like coping with them is like trying to keep the lid on a loose pressure cooker lid.

And every now and then there's so much pressure and the lid flies off and emotions are flying everywhere - yours and your child’s.

You are not a bad parent if you’ve found yourself blowing your lid and yelling when your toddler’s tantrum has pushed you to your very generous limit.

I know it feels like your toddler is deliberately behaving badly to push your buttons.

So what you're saying is that they have developed the pre-frontal brain function to think through and make such a deliberate decision.

Have you ever had a time when you've been calm and centred and your toddler does that deliberate eye contact with you when they are just about to do something they shouldn't, and they just stop and walk away and play with something else?

Pressure cookers release steam periodically to release pressure, so they regulate themselves to continue the cooking process. If there was no pressure valve release, the pressure cooker and all of it’s contents would explode.

Think of tantrums as a pressure valve release, they help your toddler regulate.

They’re a rite of passage through this very emotional phase of being a human being.

And depending on how you navigate the tantrum with your toddler, it will teach them the very important life skill of emotional regulation, so later in life they don’t become explosive adults.

How a toddler is helped through a tantrum also plays into how tuned in a child will become to their own intuition now and as they grow up and later in life.

Let me explain.

Intuition is a feeling. Emotion is a feeling. When we learn how to feel our emotions and regulate our emotions, it becomes easier to notice the difference when we get an intuitive feeling.

Intuition helps us be more creative, understand ourselves better, be better decision makers, increase our physical health and improve our mental well-being.

So, when you help your toddler navigate a tantrum in a healthy way your child has more access to creativity, understanding themselves, better decision-making and greater physical and emotional well-being.

To learn more about navigating toddler tantrums in a healthy way, explore these 3 free tips from my Less Toddler Tantrums series to help you navigate common toddler challenges like your toddler refusing to go to bed or regulating yourself when your toddler is having a tantrum and more.

Every toddler parent needs these skills.