I don't know where Emma gets her temper tantrums from, but when she does not get her way it is best to stay out of the way. Her tantrums proceed in several stages:
Stage 1: Shouting.
Stage 2: Throwing.
Stage 3: Slapping the wall or furniture.
Stage 4: Slapping the top of her head.
Stage 5: Spontaneous Combustion (This only happened once.).
I usually try to intervene before Emma hits Stage 3 or 4, but there are times where my presence makes no difference at all. This is probably because Emma's anger is catalyzed by something I said or did.
Although I do raise my voice and get angry at the kids, there are times when I try to do the opposite and try to calm them down by being calm myself. For instance, this morning Emma and Andrew got into a fight over some toys. Emma began shouting at Andrew. Emma began throwing the toys. Emma began hitting the toys. And it was time for me to step in.
I carried Emma away from Andrew and tried to get her to talk. You could tell by her evil eyes that she was very angry about something. She began to slap the top of her head, and I tried to get her to stop by gently hugging her. And as it is with most all girls when I hug them, they push me away.
Again, I tried to calm Emma down by talking to her. "Emma, what's wrong?" I asked.
"I! Am! Angry!" she shouted as she punctuated each word with a slap to her head.
"If you tell me why you're angry, maybe we can make you feel better," I explained to her.
She continued to slap her head.
"Emma," I said. "Please stop hitting your head."
Slap, slap, slap.
"Emma. This is your last warning. You need to stop slapping your head!"
Slap, slap, slap.
I held Emma's arms down and brought her close to me. Although she was resisting, I used all of my manly strength to stop the slapping. As she continued to squirm and kick, I looked at her face and forcefully said, "Why are you so angry?!?"
"I DON'T REMEMBER WHY!" she screamed back at me.
Ah. At least I can relax with the knowledge that I have a typical girl.
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