Toddler Tantrums

Every year there’s the inevitable question of just when I should throw out the Halloween candy? Our basket of candy is an amalgam of excess candy I bought and my three little critters’ candy. It’s easier just to throw it all in one pile and let ‘em duke it out. I’m sure in the years to come that’ll be disastrous but it seems to be working right now. Sort of.

Last year the baby was a baby and sweet enough. No candy, of course, passed his lips. Now he’s a pro. He makes the sign for candy to anyone who’ll listen. Tonight he threw a fit and usually I do what any respectful pediatrician and experienced mom does – totally ignore it. I’ve been known to step over kids’ flailing bodies and keep on walking. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest. He’s too young to reason with and too little to control himself.

Well, tonight after bath and a good tooth scrubbing he started to reach for his sister’s lollipop. Never a good idea with toddlers- they could fall and impale their little mouth, not to mention I had just got them all clean and it was bedtime. So I pulled it away and oh, did he take exception to that! In fact he started screaming so hard and so long that I was afraid of moving from tantrum, to puke fest and then to bath time all over again. I resorted to a little trick I tell my patients but have never had to use before: I started clapping my hands and yelled for my oldest to start flicking the lights off and on. I’m happy to say it worked like a charm. He paused and started gazing up and around wide eyed and mouth open. In no time he was tucked in bed and down for the night.

If we have a repeat performance tomorrow night, the candy is gone!

Sheila Cason, MD