It?s supposed to be the Happiest Place on Earth, but at Disney California Adventure Park, during the World of Color light show, my son Bennett, then six, lost it. It started with an escalating refrain, ?I want to go back to the hotel!? and quickly descended into a red-faced, snot-nosed scream-fest that lasted all the way along Downtown Drive as I half-dragged, half-fireman-carried him back to the hotel.
In hindsight I should have seen it coming. Bennett was tired and recovering from a tummy bug, and the Disneyland crowds and noises had left him over-stimulated and disregulated. Plus, Bennett has autism, so it can be hard for him to process big emotions in an overwhelming situation.
Meltdowns are never pretty?especially when you have an audience?and neither are their ugly cousins, temper tantrums. It?s tempting to conflate these outbursts, and we often use the terms interchangeably, but there is a difference between the two, say experts. Both are a childhood right of passage as kids test boundaries and learn how to regulate their emotions. It can also be hard to tell them apart in the moment, but here?s a primer, along with some tips for handling each.
Tantrums
Tantrums typically begin in toddlerhood are usually caused when a child wants something they can?t have or tries to do something dangerous (such as climb too high at the playground), and is told, ?No.?
?The temper tantrum is a tactic to try and see if that will work to get what he or she wants,? says Amori Mikami, an ...