Tantrums... a mother's worst nightmare

Look at that face. That doesn't look like a face that is capable of high pitched screaming, shouting, crying and stamping feet, does it? Well, looks can be deceiving! The other day, this lovely face had a full blown tantrum in Asda. Emilia rarely has tantrums, and she has never had one with me when we're out. I think I handled it quite well.

What was this tantrum about? I hear you cry. Well, a Disney Princess magazine. I was going to buy her it, as her teachers had said great things about her at school that morning when I went in to see how she's doing. I said to her she'd have to be a good  girl all evening to have the magazine. She agreed. I'm all about reinforcing positive behaviour you see. 4 years of a psychology degree comes in handy sometimes. Cut forward 5 minutes, Emilia decides she's going to lick my arm. Not good. Magazine goes back on the shelf. Tantrum begins. Snot EVERYWHERE. Stamping feet. High pitched wails of the word magazine are repeated over and over. I just carry on dragging her around the shop as I still needed to get things for dinner, and no screaming 5 year old was going to stop me.

What surprised me most of all was the sympathetic looks from other parents in the store. I thought I'd have judgemental looks, people thinking I couldn't control my unruly child. I guess it must have been obvious that she had misbehaved because everytime she shouted "I want the magazine", I just replied "Well, you should have been good." Now, I know some of you might think that it was a bit extreme for just an arm lick. However, I think I was right. I'm not going to encourage behaviour like that. Yes, it's not the most naughty of actions, but I want to nip things like that in the bud before they get out of control. I don't agree with smacking, so I never use that as a threat of punishment, and besides, she was hit all the time at her mum's, it's not a real threat for her. Emilia can't tell the time yet, so saying she's going to bed early isn't a threat really. The witholding of pudding is reserved for meal times when she's refusing to eat her food. So, it seemed like the best idea. And it worked. She was as good as gold all evening, and the next day, so I bought her the magazine to reward that good behaviour. It's taking a long time to get her out of the habits that the other lot got her in to. She knows I don't respond to tantrums, and she won't get what she wants if she screams at me. Slowly, but surely, we're getting there.