This doesn't work for every situation by any means,
but I found it to be very effective.
Kids tend to get themselves all worked up and feed
off their mood at the time.
Yelling or strong words just seems to fuel the fire of upset.
When my daughter was young she was a very good kid,
but she still had her moments. *wink*
I can remember one day she was having a really bad day
and was just really throwing a fit about something.
I am a mom who try's to talk everything out.
This particular day she wasn't even close to listening to reason soooo....
I looked at her and said
"Ok wait, wait, wait, Look if you are going to throw a fit then you HAVE to do it right."
With not being used not being told DON'T throw a fit,
she stopped for a few seconds to listen to what I was going to say.
(step one of breaking the set pattern)
Then I looked at her eye to eye and I said
"Ok FIRST you have to lay down on the ground."
Which I proceeded to do laying on my back.
She stood there looking at me with wonder in her eyes.
I looked up and said
"Well come on!"
She laid down beside me with a look of "Ok now what?"
I said "Good, Ok now, to do this, you must do it right...
you have to stomp your feet (which I started to do )
again saying "Well come on!"
Then I told her "Now you have to pound your hands on the floor."
Well by this time she is looking at me like I was NUTS
Again saying "Well come on!" She followed suit very learely.
I said
"Very GOOD you are getting there. Now we have to roll our head from side to side."
This time all it took was a look for her to follow my lead.
(I see a smile by this time)
"Very GOOD now there is one last thing. NOW you have to cry like a baby."
Which I proceeded to go "Whaaa Whaaa Whaaa" VERY loudly!
Well Needless to say by this time she was cracking up laughing
wondering if her mom had went over the edge of sanity.
(Which I am sure if anyone walking past our windows saw me would be thinking the same thing. lol )
We laid there on the floor and laughed till it hurt.
The tears now were ones of joy not fits.
I think we both felt better after wards.
For what it is worth I tried this technique on another
child years later. Worked like a charm! *wink*
