The short answer: Tantrums are a normal, healthy part of toddler brain development. The reasoning part of your child’s brain is simply not built yet, and during a meltdown it goes fully offline. That’s why logic doesn’t work. What does: stay close, come down to her level, keep your own voice low and slow, name the feeling briefly, and save the lesson for later. Below is why this works, and how the Montessori approach can prevent many tantrums before they begin.
It’s six o’clock on a Tuesday evening. You’ve asked your two-year-old if she would like the blue cup or the green cup for her water. She chose the blue cup. You poured the water into the blue cup. And now she’s on the kitchen floor, face flushed, screaming that she wanted the blue cup, which is, of course, the cup in her hand, filled with the water she asked for.
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