Things You'll Need:
- Patience
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Step 1
When The Meltdown Begins: Take a deep breath and talk to your toddler in your normal voice, asking what the problem is..if you yell, it will only make the meltdown worse and even pro-long it!
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Step 2
After finding out the problem, try to solve the problem quickly, for example: If you are in a store and the child wants to get a toy and you say NO, keep talking normal and explain to him or her that 'toys' are for special occasions and when you get home the two of you can plan or do something special! Then say things like "OK, let's hurry home so we can eat our dinner and get a special ice cream or let's hurry home so we can have a picnic outside for lunch...try to convince them that you plan on making them happy by doing something else!
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Step 3
Hopefully the last step will work and the meltdown will begin to taper off...if it hasn't, try another approach:
Try talking to him or her explaining that you don't want to have to put him or her in time-out when you get home...but if it continues, stick with what you said. Never tell a child something and not go thru with it, the first time you say something like " If you don't stop crying, you can't play with your trains when you get home" and then let them play immediately after they get home...they know you are not serious and will only continue to get worse from there on out!
