We’ve all had to deal with toddler tantrums
DIDN’T you just feel for Lindsay Robinson, the mother of 16-month-old Heidi, who was asked to take her child out of a John Lewis store in Manchester last week when she had a toddler tantrum? We’ve all been there. I still feel hot under the collar when I remember my son David who, when denied sweets at the check-out in supermarkets, threw himself on the floor, drummed his heels on the ground and went as scarlet as his red ski suit.
This was a regular occurrence from about 18 months to about the age of three.
I tried all the usual things – sweet reason, explanations – “it’s nearly dinner time” or “these nasty sweets will hurt your teeth”.
Nothing worked and, hot and red-faced with a screaming, wriggling toddler under my arm I exited every supermarket feeling like a hopeless mother.
You can just feel the smugness of those watching “doesn’t know how to control her son”. They were right. I didn’t. The tantrums made an unwelcome reappearance when he decided after one day at school that it wasn’t for him. So there I was every Monday morning dragging this little boy down the road in his new blazer trying to explain that school was where he would be going every weekday for a long time.
No chance. The lollipop lady tried to soften the blow by keeping a sweetie in her pocket for him.
Seeing the tears running down his cheeks from his big blue eyes, she felt so sorry for him.
“Poor wee lamb,” she said one day. “It breaks my heart to see him so unhappy.” It nearly broke my spirit. But then one day I think even he felt embarrassed by his tantrums and they stopped.
Every mum who has tried to control a screaming child and failed knows just how embarrassing it makes you feel.