Hellobee Boards

Interesting.... my 5.5 yo DD has just started having massive breakdowns. That are not in character for her. The other day she lost it, I mean lost it bc her brother was pushing a box of wipes around and she wanted to do it but he'd screech at her when she tried to take it from him.. Full on ran into the other room and had a melt down under the table. Yelling leave me alone and that it's not fair. Another time her 2 yo brother got his foot tangled in her hair and hurt her and she freaked out and ran upstairs screaming to leave her alone.. it's just out of character.

I am guessing maybe it's just that they are having big emotions and aren't quite sure how to handle them yet??? IDK.. but you are not alone and I can commiserate with you.

I can't think of anything that has changed or triggered my DD. It's just like when something bothers her it's suddenly very very dramatic and serious. Maybe this is just prep for the teen years??

Ugh, yes. I can totally commiserate but have no solutions. My 6 year old can really throw down. Her favorite tantrum tactic is to shriek at the top of her lungs while blowing all of the snot out of her nose and down her face. We live in an old row house and I'm convinced my neighbors can hear her and think that I am torturing her.

Like @autumnmama79 says, I try to remain calm, talk her through the emotions, and offer her unconditional love, but she makes it as hard as possible!.She's always been tough and I imagine I may have a lifetime of tantrums (in different forms) ahead of me. Her 3 year old sister is already better at putting her words to her emotions.

My 5.5 year old recently started having huge freak out tantrums that seem to come out of nowhere. Once or twice I think he was pretty hungry, so that didn't help. But otherwise we can't figure out why he is getting so upset so quickly and then staying grumpy for hours after. He did just finish up his school year a couple of weeks ago and started summer camp, so we wonder if that transition is contributing to things.

@luckygirl: Yes, I think disruptions to the routine exacerbate my daughter's tantrums. Our recent string of tantrums are also (I think) related to end of the school year (plus my husband has, uncharacteristically, been on work travel for several weeks, which further disrupted her routine).

No advice, just hugs. I have a 7.5 yo that freaks out and it has never been easy since he was a baby. (there was a brief moment at around 1-2 that was "easier"? And that was it).

Just today, we went to a B&N for 15 mins before the swim class starts. As we were walking in I said, hey, you are going to go when it is time to go, right? He said yes. You are not going to nag and whine and throw a tantrum to beg me to buy a book, right? (He did that exactly last week) he said no. 10 mins up I said we have 5 more mins. 5 mins passed I said times up we gotta go. No!!! 3 more pages, I am reading it very quickly!!! I walked a bit further, dude we gotta go, bye! No! 1 more page! 5 mins later I said ok I am going to wait for you in the car and I was standing pretty far at that point. He said mommy? Where are you? Then he ran out after me, insisted he wanted to show me something and I must turn back. I walked on and said we had to go 10 mins ago. He cried and screamed behind me. I refused to stop, he pulled on my dress and dragged his body weight on it, my dress made a loud rip sound (haven't figured out where yet). When he lose his grip I literally ran out of the store as this tantrum 7.5 yo child/spoiled brat screamed and cried running behind me. We were late to swim class and took me the whole class to calm down.

I have to say in retrospect the magnitude of this was better than the 3-5.5 years (I had WAYYYYY WORSE). But at the same time, seriously, 7 year olds still do that??? And then I have friends who would say with a smile, 7 yo is the BEST year, so easy! #$*()@&>:-(

We talked about it calmly but seriously before we got back into the car (He always apologizes and knows he was wrong, always). We talked about time management, priority, and how of course we always want to do the thing we want to do right now but there are other items/priorities we have to consider. Yes mommy I am sorry mommy. But guess what, this exact thing will happen again and again and again every other day until I am in my death bed (probably soon). Sorry, some of you probably can handle this way better than me, but I feel like I am running on flat, I change my tires and then next day it got slashed and become flat again so now I am just flat out running on flat because I bought, changed and slashed all the tires I can get. I am so tired of dealing with this every so often for at least 5 years of my life. It's like constantly being beaten by a stick every day for 7 years. No light at the end of tunnel.