The Daddy and daughter were playing star jumps…
Her daddy turned away, and she was left standing
in the same spot where the
jumps had been.
Mummy led the crying girl to her room, saying,
“You can stay here until you are ready.”
There were some screams and a pail of tears.
Lost in their moment of folly.
After the episode, we hugged and made up, and Vera said: “Sorry, papa…sorry, mummy”, without being prompted, for the very first time.
I learnt a big lesson that day. That we don’t need to let anger take over when something goes awry. And it need not be a battle between the big people and the little people. Sometimes, our little people just need a bit of help processing their emotions — which can be humongous by the way.
And because we stayed relatively calm through the entire episode, she was able to regain her feelings of normal-ness quicker and with less drama.
But it’s not always easy. I lose my cool more often than I would like, and I have to keep reminding myself to be more patient. What’s more, Vera seems to be at a stage where she can turn moody pretty quickly, when things are not done in the way that she expects. It’s a real challenge trying to get her to see things a little differently, but I guess as with everything else, she will learn. We just gotta keep at it, and hopefully it’ll be sooner rather than later.
Funny how something as innocent as star jumps could trigger a tantrum so quickly. But thankfully, this one went away as suddenly as it came.
Here is a photo of our little Shrek in a fit, taken at about 12 months.
What do you do when your little one throws a tantrum?
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