How to Decrease Your Child’s Tantrums During a Lockdown
As it is now with the global pandemic, even with the dissemination of the vaccine and all, we’re still facing the plague of CoVid and the constant reversion of yet another form of lockdown in our areas. This causes a lot of changes in our little one’s environment, and unforeseen changes always lead to more dysregulations, and eventually, even more tantrums. So from one learning parent to another, I’m going to share with you five tips to (hopefully) lessen your child’s tantrums.
So without further ado, let’s dive in.
1. Let your child be in the know.
Oftentimes, we tend to coddle our kids and try to protect them from the dangers of the world. Maybe even letting them be ignorant and hope that they’ll never know of the evils of the world, so to speak. But there’s power in knowledge. What they know of, they can prepare their minds for. And this helps to prevent them from thinking that they’re the reasons for what we’re feeling as parents (anxious, worried). And in this case, letting them know about what’s happening around them with age appropriate truths will help their little brains make more sense of the changes around them.
2. Maintain a routine (sort of).
Due to sudden enforcement of us being forced to work from home or our kids saddled with home based learning, their routines may be a bit thrown out of whack. But it is even more imperative to set up a new routine with these sudden changes and do our best to stick with it for our little ones to feel safe and assured. To put it simply, us adults hate sudden changes, how much more for our little ones whose brains are still under construction? So letting them know about the situation of the pandemic, and even the changes in their schedule would help you and your little one settle into the new routine faster (even if it’s with some tears and power struggles along the way).
3. Pull up your arsenal of activities.
As a Pinterest-worthy mom myself (read: NOT), I just have so many ideas I’d love to try with my kid to help me have a little bit of a break and let them play by themselves. But since I’m not, I’d recommend Susie’s (from busytoddler.com) amazing list of toddler activities on her blog to survive the day while waiting for that oh-so-sweet nap time! Her activity ideas are easy to pull off, don’t necessarily need a whole lot of materials, and encourages a lot of learning for your little one (in other words = lots of engaged independent play). And just a little side note, it’s okay if they don’t find interest in the setup activities you worked so hard to prepare. Set up those activities, but let your child choose what he or she wants to work with themselves. At the end of the day, let them be in charge of what interests them.
4. Enlist your child’s help.
Have an unending list of house chores? Dear parent, you don’t have to do it alone! Infants and toddlers love to be our little helpers, sometimes they find all these practical life activities even more interesting than the actual shelf activities we set up for them! So I encourage you to start giving them age-appropriate chores (or more like what-they’re-capable-of chores) or simply let them observe you on how you work. Make it simple and predictable, and let them give it a try. It may not be a perfect job or the job would get done faster if you simply did everything yourself but you’ll thank your future self when you start involving them in simple day-to-day chores.
5. Learn to give yourself grace.
I’ve learned of this amazing way to apply grace to yourself from one of my favorite parenting Instagram accounts @biglittlefeelings (give them a follow, I swear, their content is gold!). It’s called the 80/20 rule. This rule is basically you doing your best to stick to the routines, boundaries, being the A-type parent, and all the supposed ‘perfect parenting guidelines’ 80% of the time, and 20% of the time (ok, sometimes maybe more than 20%), you end up giving your kid that one more candy or screen time. BUT with zero guilt for giving in. It’s hard enough trying to keep the house running, make sure our kids are properly clothed, changed, fed a balanced diet, meeting their supposed milestones, AND have our sanity still intact. Remember that what our kid absorbs in their environment, they emanate. If we, the supposed leader in our house, are on edge, hysterical, and easily triggered, our kids will be on edge as well. So let that parent guilt go, and always remember that what your kid needs is a happy and healthy you.
There you have it, dear friends! I hope these tips resonate with you. Which among these tips will you apply first in your homes? Or better yet, do share what other tips you have to lessen the tantrums in your own home. Stay safe always, everyone. Sending you all the love and hugs from our family to yours.
