How to deal with toddler tantrums

This content was originally posted in 7DAYS UAE website at: How to deal with toddler tantrums Most parents look forward to, but also dread, the toddler stage when their babies reach developmental milestones such as learning to use the potty or sprinting away to escape bath time. For parents going through the delights and growing pains of the toddler years, child development expert and mum-of-three Dr Rebecca Chicot has explained what’s going on and how to deal with it in new book, ‘The Calm And Happy Toddler’. “They’re developing a huge amount of new skills and new abilities. At the same time, their brain is trying to develop and learn, and kind of capture everything they’re doing,” she explains. The book is packed with advice, real-life examples and handy questionnaires all based on Chicot’s approach to empower parents as the people who know their child best. TODDLER TANTRUMS The role of a parent is to help toddlers regulate their emotions because they’re not yet in control of their feelings. Dr Chicot says: “It’s not about giving in to them, it’s about that moment. Your role is to calm them down. Toddlers tend to tantrum if they’re hungry, or if they’re thirsty, if their routine has really changed and something unexpected is happening, if they’re cold, if they’re hot. You can help to regulate their day and their routine so they have better and easier expectations and their little brain isn’t put under pressure that can lead to a meltdown.” SLEEPING WELL Once babies outgrow their cots and move to a toddler bed, all good sleep habits can suddenly go out the window. Chicot says: “The first thing is to try and encourage the bedroom to be a nice place of rest, so that it’s never a place that you are taken to as punishment. Two hours before they go to sleep, no iPads or no TV. A simple trick to stimulate melatonin (the sleep hormone) is to have a very warm bath and a very short bath, because we associate our bodies cooling down with a sense of sleepiness, which helps us to go off.” TIME TO TALK In our busy lives, it can often feel as though there’s little time to spend with the kids, helping them make sense of the world and staying one step ahead of their developmental needs. But Chicot says children are “very good at knowing what they need to learn”, we just need to talk them through it. She says: “What we can provide for them is a lot of conversation. Even if you’re folding the washing, talk to them, include them and wait for a response. When you’re watching TV with them, it’s not really a shared experience. “But when they’re sat on your lap, they know they’ve got your attention when you’ve got a book. That’s one of the simplest things you can do, that really helps their cognitive development so they don’t feel scared by books and words.” features@7days.ae Read the original story at: How to deal with toddler tantrums