OK my son is 19 months old and holy crap, he is developing a bad temper! Is this normal? Ok I'll give an example. This morning I gave him a bowl of cheerios for breakfast. He is good at eating with a spoon and normally likes cereal. Well this morning he was putting the cereal in his mouth and then opening his mouth and letting the food fall out onto his lap haha. So I told him not to do that nicely and gave him a few chances and ended up taking the cereal away from him because he was making a huge mess and not eating anything. Well he went balistic! He was crying sooo hard and like slamming himself around his chair, and anything he could get his hands on, he would throw against the wall. He kept pointing towards the counter and I was offering him different things like a banana, yogurt, etc but none of them was what he wanted and he just kept getting madder and madder. I ended up picking him out and putting him in his room, and within a minute he had calmed himself down and was fine. But sheesh! Does anyone else's kids do this? Another thing is last night my dad was babysitting him and he pointed to the door like he wanted to go outside and my dad said no they couldnt go outside because it was cold and dark out, and he freaked out and was screaming and crying at the top of his lungs. My dad tried to settle him down for 15 minutes, and ended up having to call me to come get him because he couldnt calm him down. It's like I know he is getting frustrated with communicating because he doesnt have many words, and I have seen him getting frustrated when he is trying to tell me something and I cant figure out what it is. But like this is a serious temper. Even little things lately, like if a toy doesnt do exactly what he wants that second, he will throw himself on the floor on his stomach and start crying. I just dont know what to do. Is there anything that I can do to help with this anger and frustration? He just seems to have so much anger and he is only 19 months old! I dont understand it. Like is this normal? I feel like I do a pretty good job raising him, he has all his basic needs met, and I try as much as possible to get down on the floor with him and play with him. I tell him that I love him all the time, and show lots of affection to him. He loves being read to, so I read him a few books everyday. I give him positive encouragement when he does something good. He has other people that love and care for him too. I just dont understand where all this anger is coming from. Sorry this is so long, but any advice / feedback would be appreciated.
It is totally normal, and he will grow out of it.
Cae is just now getting to an age where we can talk something through. But he freaks out if he doesn't get his way.
You have to reason out whether it is worth whatever battle. Like last night we were going to go to bed so I lay down read four books then got up and turned off the light Cae freaked out and started screaming on on and wanting to leave the room, after five minutes or so of him crying I decided that wasn't how I wanted us to fall asleep. I turned on the light, asked him if he wanted to go for a walk in his sling and we went and played for half an hour in the toy room. Then he wanted to go to bed, we went and he walked straight to his spot on the bed cuddled up and went to sleep.
Sometimes it's worth the messy cereal... maybe you could put less milk so it's not such a big deal. Or eat outside.
yah its totally normal. joshua is beginning to act this way too. hes fourteen months. at this age, like you said, they cant use their words so temper tantrums are their easiest ways of showing their emotions. it kind of makes sense if you think about it, we would be the same way if we were that limited, it would be extremely frusterating. it has nothing to do with your parenting skills, most if not all babies go through it. hang in there.. i hear it gets better.
yep my freinds kiddo is 3 yrs old and hes got big one too and yeah he ill grow out of it
Well I'm glad to here that its normal! I was beginning to think I had a seriously bratty kid and I didnt know why.
adcaela, I totally hear what you're saying that you have to decide if its worth it sometimes. It's like you pick your battles and a mess isnt the end of the world. Sometimes I think I get in the zone of being busy and trying to get by, and I will get overly annoyed at little things, and I have to take a step back and be like whoa, this is really not that big of a deal.
I talked to the staff at Jacobs daycare and they noticed his behavior a little lately too. They basically said he is testing the waters, and as long as I dont give in to something I already said no to once the temper starts, he will realize eventually that he isnt going to get his way by screaming. They said he is going through through a normal developmental stage and for some kids, this is what its like. *sigh* Its hard though.