It doesn't take an expert in Pavlovian psychology to know that children can use tantrums to get what they want: kid wants candy in supermarket, mom says no, kid whines, mom says no, kid screams and hurls himself into neighboring carts, mom says, "Oh, OK, just this time." Next time kid wants something, he immediately goes into cart-hurling mode.
No question that tantrums (especially the public ones) can be some of the most frustrating times we have as parents. Choose your battles. If your kid is known to throw a whopping tantrum if he doesn't get extra milk in his cereal, what does it hurt to give him some extra milk? Obviously, you don't want to give in too much or all the time, but it's important to let kids "win" sometimes. The easiest thing is to give in, to do anything to stop the insanity. Intellectually, we know that's not good, because it reinforces bad behavior. Practically speaking, it's much harder to stand your ground. Harder, but not impossible. These strategies should help:
A New York Times No. 1 bestselling author and host of The Dr. Oz Show, Mehmet C. Oz, MD, is also a professor and the vice chairman of surgery at New York Presbyterian-Columbia University and the director of the Heart Institute. For more from Oz, check out You: Raising Your Child and You: Having a Baby, both coauthored with Michael F. Roizen, MD.
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