Tantrums

I have a dcb who just turned 3. He's always been really easygoing but all of a sudden it's tears, tantrums, throwing toys. I put him in a chair or his booster seat to calm down and he'll scream and hit things. I ignore him and interact calmly with the other kids, but it makes my blood boil. How do you handle this kind of behavior?

I would put him in his bed and tell him that when he stops he can come out. It is up to him.

I would probably put him on the couch in the playroom where he won't hurt anything or anyone as he gets the tantrum out of his system. Forcing his body to be still when he feels like tantruming can be counterproductive. Granted some kids need the swaddling/confining to get under control so you will have to figure which he is but if he continues to thrash then a padded place to do it in might be better. Then when he starts you can just point and say "to the mat" or "to the couch". He joins play again when he is calm and ready and no one is allowed to bother him - ie you keep them out of his influence to be safe.

Again there is the need to find out why - later bedtime, new sibling, frustration is pent up anger from something else. The biggest thing we learned with my older daughter that had issues at school with behaviour was that the issue manifested was never about the problem. Ie if she wan tormented on the bus she might torment the first child that came near her that was also wearing a red shirt or had long black hair too.

Yeah I do that too, I put them in the play pin in the other room and tell them when they calm down they can come have fun with us.