How To Cope With Toddler Tantrums?

To be honest - I have no idea. Not a clear idea at least.

My wife and I have been reading a lot about the tantrums and that made us somewhat wiser now than we were when it first showed up.

But when you experience the real and nasty episode of wild tantrums in front of you, it's really hard to keep calm and apply all that knowledge in a given situation.

It is said that temper tantrums are actually a normal part of toddlerhood. They are basically behavioral meltdowns, a type of kid's misbehavior resulting from one simple thing: not getting what they want. 

According to behavioral experts, there are three basic categories of tantrums: 

The Gimme Tantrum: It manifests as a constant demand for something, usually food, and it occurs when you're in a kitchen or a grocery store.

The Attention-Getter Tantrum: This type of tantrum comes when you least need it - when you're on the phone or doing something that requires a razor-sharp focus, your child decides it's a right time to grab all your attention just for itself.

The Power Struggle Tantrum: It's that struggle between you and your kid when it's time for bed or leaving the playground. Your toddlers are asserting themselves this way and boosting up their ego through a regular practice of disobedience.

In our experience, we've seen all these types of tantrums and I can't decide which is our boy's favorite. It seems to me that he especially prefers The Attention-Getter, since he's (still) an only child, and he is used to having all our attention for himself. Although, the rest of the two categories are not unknown to him whatsoever.

When it comes to handling the temper tantrums, I'd say that the best way of dealing with them is by lowering your voice and occupying your kid's attention with something else (if he or she manifests The Gimme Tantrum or The Attention-Getter). 'Something else" should preferably be some other (useful) activity, if possible.

On the other hand, it's usually my job to struggle for power with our restless toddler during bedtime, since I'm less susceptible to his pretty loud pleadings for more TV. But instead of lowering my voice, very often I catch myself trying to outshout our three-year-old son, which unfortunately makes me look like I'm having tantrums myself.