NPR blurb on scientists studying tantrums

[♥ms.pacman♥]

a friend of mine (who has a toddler around DS's age) just posted this on FB. scientists analyzed the sounds kids make during tantrums to find patterns.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/12/05/143062378/whats-behind-a-temper-tantrum-scientists-deconstruct-the-screams?sc=fb&cc=fp

[daisymommy]

I don't know why, but I find this totally hilarious!
As in, toddlers are like rare, beasts with hard to understand primal yells, and they must be analyzed :hysterical:.

[larig]

My fellow education researchers will venture into the wilds of preschool to observe them in their natural state too.

[twowhat?]

A friend of mine IMed me to say she immediately thought of me and hurry up and turn on NPR. I thought it was HILARIOUS!!!! A one minute tantrum as an example??? Give me a break!!! HAHAHAHA. DD2's last tantrum, with complete ignoring, lasted a solid 45 minutes!!! You can probably find all sorts of posts in the BP that I started:)

And the mom saying "OK let's get some scissors and take care of those feet" had me rolling...I've done the same thing when DD2 would scream and writhe on the floor that she was "STUCK IN THE MUUUUUUUDDDD"! One day I got out the swiffer, told her "I'm going to clean up the mud so you can't get stuck anymore." I cleaned all around her and then stood back with the most smug look on my face. She stopped screaming for 0.32 seconds, and then shrieked "THERE'S STILL A LITTLE BIT OF MUUUUUUD!!!!" LOLOL!!!

Great morning entertainment for me at work:)

[twowhat?]

My fellow education researchers will venture into the wilds of preschool to observe them in their natural state too.

Actually it should be "in the child's own home on Mondays-Fridays between the hours of 5PM and 8PM..."

[maestramommy]

I don't know why, but I find this totally hilarious!
As in, toddlers are like rare, beasts with hard to understand primal yells, and they must be analyzed :hysterical:.

:yeahthat: I want to know who provided the grant for this study.

[Penny's Pappa]

:yeahthat: I want to know who provided the grant for this study.

Ask and you shall receive!!

"supported by Grant HD055343 from the National Institute of Health and Human Development."

[maestramommy]

Seems kinda a shame though. All this money and time expended on finding out what we know already. I mean, if parents don't know when their first baby is born, they'll find out soon enough.

[Mamabear4]

Did you read any of the comments? I had to stop after the mom of 6 who never had any of her children throw a tantrum. Followed by those who said tantrums are all the parents' fault. Please, teach me your amazing parenting skills, because clearly my DS1 and I need your help!

[twowhat?]

Did you read any of the comments? I had to stop after the mom of 6 who never had any of her children throw a tantrum. Followed by those who said tantrums are all the parents' fault. Please, teach me your amazing parenting skills, because clearly my DS1 and I need your help!

Me too! Amazed at how many commented that their children simply didn't throw tantrums! And the opinion that those who threw tantrums had inferior parents. WTH?

Though...I was talking to a friend about this and she has a daughter the same age as ours (3yo) and she goes "well...my daughter hasn't ever thrown a classic screaming tantrum..." I was like WOW. Never? I guess there ARE kids that do not throw the classic angry screaming tantrum. All I can say is...if you have one of them, feel lucky. Very, very lucky:)

[maestramommy]

Me too! Amazed at how many commented that their children simply didn't throw tantrums! And the opinion that those who threw tantrums had inferior parents. WTH?

Though...I was talking to a friend about this and she has a daughter the same age as ours (3yo) and she goes "well...my daughter hasn't ever thrown a classic screaming tantrum..." I was like WOW. Never? I guess there ARE kids that do not throw the classic angry screaming tantrum. All I can say is...if you have one of them, feel lucky. Very, very lucky:)

Dora didn't throw her first tantrum until she was well over 3. Arwyn had some meltdowns, but no classic screaming ones until almost 4. Laurel? cough, cough,.... 10 months. Don't look at me! :tongue5:

[Mamabear4]

Though...I was talking to a friend about this and she has a daughter the same age as ours (3yo) and she goes "well...my daughter hasn't ever thrown a classic screaming tantrum..." I was like WOW. Never? I guess there ARE kids that do not throw the classic angry screaming tantrum. All I can say is...if you have one of them, feel lucky. Very, very lucky:)

:yeahthat: VERY, VERY, lucky indeed!

[♥ms.pacman♥]

Did you read any of the comments? I had to stop after the mom of 6 who never had any of her children throw a tantrum. Followed by those who said tantrums are all the parents' fault. Please, teach me your amazing parenting skills, because clearly my DS1 and I need your help!

i saw a few of the comments, but stopped reading. i've learned to try to ignore the comments section in parenting or political sites, because they can be incredibly judgmental, braggy and hurtful! i guess because it's anonymous so people can just say whatever.

i agree that a lot of them were crazy. a mom of SIX whose never had a kid throw a tantrum, i find that hard to believe!!! THough i don't think that all parents are lying when they say their kid had never thrown a tantrum. DS is almost 2 and has never had a tantrum (he's cried a little, but never screamed, or gotten on the floor or thrown/kicked things in anger, etc). Maybe he's too young (don't they typically start at age 2?)..but it's also his personality...he's very laid back and also very easily distracted (he's the typical guy, LOL!) Sometimes when he's whimpering/crying over not getting something you can easily make him laugh just by tickling him or showing him a book. And then it's over. DD on the other hand, is the the type that once she gets upset about something, will scream and cry her head off and has a hard time calming down afterwards. It's like she wants to make sure we all know she's in agony or something. She's only 8 months but I can see her throwing tantrums soon....maybe even before DS! We call her our drama queen :)

[egoldber]

Here's a link to a citation to the actual article: http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/emo/11/5/1124/

I think it actually sounds interesting. If you know about Ross Greene's Collaborative Problem Solving model (author of The Explosive Child) it gibes with a lot of what he says in there.

From the article....


"You know, when children are at the peak of anger and they're screaming and they're kicking, probably asking questions might prolong that period of anger," said Green. "It's difficult for them to process information. And to respond to a question that the parent is asking them may be just adding more information into the system than they can really cope with."

I know that I am frequently guilty of this. I try to reason with the tantruming child. But Ross Greene would say that in the moment is NOT the time to do that. In the moment, you fallback and do damage control. Before and after the tantrum are the times to work with your kids on having the skills to work through the tantrum (in age appropriate ways).

[DrSally]

Reading this now, I think I was actually contacted to partipate in this study ( or one similar). I usually sign up to be contacted for studies --won't always do them, but having been a researcher myself, I appreciate the value of it and don't mind being contacted. I think at that point, DD didn't qualify ( no classic tantrums), lol. They seem to be delayed in my kids.

[twowhat?]

Reading this now, I think I was actually contacted to partipate in this study ( or one similar). I usually sign up to be contacted for studies --won't always do them, but having been a researcher myself, I appreciate the value of it and don't mind being contacted. I think at that point, DD didn't qualify ( no classic tantrums), lol. They seem to be delayed in my kids.

:rotflmao: "This study excluded children who did not exhibit the behaviors being studied" :rotflmao::rotflmao::rotflmao:

My DD2 would have provided "good data".

[BabyBearsMom]

I heard the blurb on this, and it seems to me that anyone who has ever had a tantruming child would know this.

I would definitely not read the comments. All the holier than thow horse pitooey just makes me mad. A tantrumming child does not make you a bad parent. And no matter what, when you observe someone else's kid tantruming, you don't know the back story and shouldn't judget anyway. All those commenters (especially the childless ones who don't know what they are talking about) should get over themselves.

[tarahsolazy]

I thought it was a great piece, and very interesting work as well.

Neither of my kids have had classic tantrums like the one they played on the radio story, but that's not any doing of mine. They just have DH's calm demeanor. I'm hoping now that they are 7.5 and 4.5 we are getting out of the tantrum risk window.

[crayonblue]

Me too! Amazed at how many commented that their children simply didn't throw tantrums! And the opinion that those who threw tantrums had inferior parents. WTH?

Though...I was talking to a friend about this and she has a daughter the same age as ours (3yo) and she goes "well...my daughter hasn't ever thrown a classic screaming tantrum..." I was like WOW. Never? I guess there ARE kids that do not throw the classic angry screaming tantrum. All I can say is...if you have one of them, feel lucky. Very, very lucky:)

My first has never thrown a single tantrum. My third is making up for that in a big way! Most recent tantrum was at the park. We had to leave and she laid down on her back on the sidewalk and kicked and screamed, all the while looking up at me. It was rather funny. I picked her up and carried her screaming little self out and another parent saw me and said, "How old?" I said almost two and she just smiled.

We have daily tantrums. Tantrums over diaper changes. Tantrums over wearing shoes. Tantrums over what to eat. Tantrums over wanting her sister's toys. Tantrums about getting into and out of the car. OH WHAT FUN!!!!!!!!!

[egoldber]

My older DD never had a tantrum....until she was 5.