MOM-ents: Toddler Tantrums

For the better part of her life, Ryann has been a sweetheart, and Matthew has as well.  We often get compliments about what a great, laid-back baby Matthew is, and when Ryann was younger, it was more of the same. 

However, as Ryann becomes more and more independent and self-assured, she also keeps getting this crazy idea that she doesn’t have to listen to me if she doesn’t feel like it.  Requests by me are sometimes met with either a dirty look, obvious defiance, or at times if I say something she doesn’t like, she comes over and “hits” me (I put “hits” in quotations because the hit is so slow and gentle I don’t think she could squash a mosquito).  I usually grab her up with a quickness and give her a stern talking to, give her a time out, or threaten to throw all of her toys away (sometimes I do all three, in a trifecta I call the “mom-bomb”).

Now that Ryann is content to throw her attitude around whenever the mood strikes, Matthew has taken note and decided to throw his version of a tantrum as well if things aren’t going his way.  This usually involves crawling or walking backwards a few steps and then throwing himself on his back with a high-pitched scream that makes the dogs in the neighborhood anxious. 

Since my approach to these outbursts in public is usually to ignore them, I have gotten quite a few looks from offended parents.  I realize that once the kids are to that point there is no talking to them since they can’t listen to reason due to their cavemen-like brains, and so I am better off concentrating on deep-breathing exercises and making my own brain find its happy place, so I am not getting dirty looks for another reason.

So if you see us out in public and I have two kids screaming and I have a far-off look in my eye--it is not because I am not paying attention to my kids, it is because I have learned that it is not in my best interest to negotiate with terrorist toddlers. 

Do you have a better idea?