Your child will most often throw a tantrum when he is feeling frustrated, stressed or tired. Your child isn’t able to express his emotions just yet and so vents his frustrations in the form of a tantrum. As your child gets older, he will discover better ways of communicating his feelings by using language and so tantrums will naturally decrease.
If your school age child is still throwing tantrums on a regular basis, you will need to consider whether he has developed the right vocabulary to express his emotions. You should make sure he understands that he can talk to you about his feelings. You can start this by asking questions that will allow him to say how he is feeling.
You shouldn’t reward a tantrum in the hopes of ending the behaviour. Giving into demands just reinforces the idea that it’s okay to throw a tantrum.If you suspect that your child is using tantrums as a way to get attention, the best thing you can do is to ignore the behaviour. Keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself but don’t respond to the tantrum. Once it’s over, speak to him as normal.
Try setting up a reward system that will encourage calm and even behaviour in situations that would normally result in tantrums.
It is often the case that kids will react strongly to something they aren’t prepared for, make sure to give timed warnings when you are about to do something that results in a tantrum, for instance: "You have to get dressed for bed in five minutes." Make sure that he is listening to you and understands what will happen.
Read more: Alternatives to threats
