New Scientific Research on Tantrums

I heard a news story about scientists conducting research on tantrums on the radio this morning, and it was pretty interesting. If you follow this link, you can read or listen to the story:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/12/05/143062378/whats-behind-a-temper-tantrum-scientists-deconstruct-the-screams

Here's an excerpt with some of the main ideas from the story:

"The trick in getting a tantrum to end as soon as possible... was to get the child past the peaks of anger. Once the child was past being angry, what was left was sadness, and sad children reach out for comfort. The quickest way past the anger, the scientists said, was to do nothing. Of course, that isn't easy for parents or caregivers to do...

Even asking questions can prolong the anger — and the tantrum... 'You know, when children are at the peak of anger and they're screaming and they're kicking, probably asking questions might prolong that period of anger,' said Green. 'It's difficult for them to process information. And to respond to a question that the parent is asking them may be just adding more information into the system than they can really cope with.'"

There are also a couple of humorous scenarios in the story. Well, humorous or impossibly frustrating, depending on how you look at it. :) For example, one small child threw a tantrum because she wanted to sit at the head or corner of the dinner table. The only problem was that her family's table has NO corners; it is round! :)

Thanks for reading! We are glad you are here.