I am sure you're all familiar with the phrase "I don't deal with terrorists." Well my ever helpful husband summed up my attitude towards Jack's tantrums perfectly for me the other day. I was relating to him how whenever Jack cries or whines or screams or (fill in the blank for whatever YOUR kid does) I ignore him, and wait for him to calm down before giving him what he wants. Jon put it this way: "You don't give into terrorist toddlers." YES! That is exactly how I feel- that when he throws a tantrum, especially in public- it's like a terrorist tactic designed to get Mommy to submit. Oooooh, sneaky. Now I must give Jack his credit; he is not especially prone to tantrums, thankfully. But, once employed he uses them very strategically. For example: we ran into the grocery store the other day for a quick stop to pick up some milk. I go to put Jack in the cart's seat and he is not having it, because he wants to walk and push the cart. Well, I sit him down and he SCREAMS and cries and gnashes his teeth, with all sorts of drama ensuing. Now I realize that all I have to do to make the very-public meltdown stop is to let him push the cart. But- I don't give into terrorist toddler tantrums!! I can only imagine what the poor passerbys are thinking, but I will not give in!
Now I've shared....what's your most embarrasing public meltdown story?
4 comments:
You're funny, Erin. But I agree...you know what I don't deal with is tantrums over colors. Once Lauren was spazzing because she wanted an orange fork rather than the yellow one I gave her to use for dinner. No way...I can't handle it. ;)
One favorite grocery trip was a couple weeks ago, when I bought the kids all their own pool noodles. We were walking down the aisles with four noodles sticking out of the cart looking like a parade float when the two middle kids see a Scooby Doo lunchbox that they want and start wailing.
Zachary had to go to the bathroom three times during the shopping trip. Of course they have the bathrooms at the front of the store, and so we were trucking back and forth three times, waving the pool noodles with moans of "Scooby Doo" and shouts of "I REALLY HAVE TO GO!" trailing behind us. Classy.
When I see moms NOT giving into their kid's tantrums I try to give them a mental equivalent of a pat on the back. I'm much too shy to say that I think they are wonderful so I just secretly think it and give them a smile.
We were at Walmart shopping in the card section and Reagan saw a card she REALLY wanted. When I didn't give it to her she screamed and began flailing her limbs. Some old lady muttered about how she couldn't believe I was shopping with a baby that was screaming and carrying on like that. I wanted to slap that lady and yell at her and cry all at the same time.
Name a store and Jacob has had a meltdown in it!!! I'm sure Target cringes each time we step inside their doors.
One time at Kohl's I had had enough of his tantrums so I took him to the kitchen appliance section, found a corner, sat him down and I turned around so I wasn't facing him. I got some strange looks from strangers wondering why I wasn't dealing with him face to face since he was obviously screaming his guts out but he realized that I wasn't paying attention to him and he stopped. We always threaten him with "the corner" at the stores now and it seems to help him settle down a little more.
Post a Comment