Article: The Science of Tantrums

Way back in July, yes the warm month of July... oh, sorry.  Let's try that again.  Back in July I posted a link to an article I read in Scientific American Mind about a study conducted that produced the Top 10 Most Important Parental Competencies that lead to happy, and healthy children.  If you didn't catch that post, make sure you read the post because not only is it interesting, but the discussions here spawned a series of posts by Mama T exploring each one.

Anyway, I am always on the look-out for scientific explainations or solutions/suggestions of things.. and as the perpetual "Uncle" to many, and with only the partial raising of a step-son under my belt, this type of stuff arms me with suggestions to offer others that I haven't personally tried myself.

And just in case you are thinking that I'm one of those nosy people that butt in and make suggestions to others about techniques they should use instead of what they are doing when raising their children... I am.  A little bit.  But I'm digressing again.

Is It Really the Terrible 3s??

All my life I've heard the expression "the terrible 2s."  One associates total meltdowns, sobbing hysterics, and general misery with this phrase.

However, I found the age of 2 to be surprisingly easy with Anna. She's always been generally easygoing, and I thought either I had an angel or people are just way too melodramatic.

And that's when they told me that 2 is a picnic and it's actually the "terrible 3s."  Excuse me??

Uh-oh.....run!

Control Freak

Control.  It’s a powerful word.  We try to have self-control.  We wish we had control of certain situations so we wouldn’t feel vulnerable.  We can’t control the future so we feel a little helpless sometimes.  Efforts to control other people are often futile, for good reason.

So why are we surprised that our kids care so much about control?