One thing I learned as a kindergarten teacher is the best way to eliminate annoying behaviors is to ignore the child while he/she is doing the behavior you don't like. Let me start off by saying.... yes I know that this does NOT work with all children and all behaviors. And, no I never ignore things that are dangerous or destructive. That being said... 9 out of 10 times when a child is acting up they are trying very hard to get attention, all be it negative attention, but still attention.
Well, I'm not sure if the terrible twos are kicking in early, if Blake is just testing the limits, or testing my patience, buttttt yesterday I got to play ignore Blake. With Blake it is typically little things like, I want to go into the living room and he doesn't so he pitches a fit. So what does Mommy do? Picks him up, puts him in the living room and lets him continue the fit there as Mommy walks away. To some this may sound mean, but trust me.... it works! Even at this age his tantrums are very short when I walk away.
All I can say is I hope he gets this done and over with before baby #2 comes or it could get interesting!
Anyone else use ignoring as a major deterrent to tantrums??
I am not looking forward to those days with Eliza. I have used ignoring in my class and it works for some and not others. there are always a few who will just continue the dispruptive behavior which tells me they don't care fs they get attention! I don't think it is mean to walk away. I walked away from my 9 year old niece last summer when she pitched a fit about going in the pool. It resolved the problem quickly. I think if you try to talk to them or plead with them it just fuels the fire.
ReplyDeleteI am with you on this on. Ignore is a great technique to use and many times it solves the problem. As I type away, i am ignoring my almost 4 year old as she pouts because she was told no snack before lunch. If nothing else, it saves my sanity. When Ashlyn was 2, one time she had a tantrum and I walked away. So she got up, followed me, and continued her tantrum. It was hard not to laugh at that. But I just went about my business and she stopped.
ReplyDeleteHopefully, you'll be out of that stage soon. Tantrums don't last forever if you ignore them. :)
ReplyDeleteYou know, we've never had trouble with tantrums with our son yet...he's just over 1 1/2. But he does sometimes cry or get upset for things like...having to go to bed. But if I put him in the crib and ignore his crying for about 30 seconds...he stops every time and simply just goes to sleep. So I do find the ignoring thing to work well for his really little fits that he has once in a while! I hope really little fits is all we'll ever have...buuuuut probably not! ;)
ReplyDeletei ignore them when they happen as well...luckily they don't happen often yet!
ReplyDeleteteachers have a different mentality than parents who don't have the training. at least this is what i have found with the kids I have worked with. you could see a difference in the way a child of a teacher acted vs. a child who's parent wasn't a teacher. of course there are always exceptions....