@kendraworth: How I respond to tantrums depends on the function (aka objective) of my child’s behavior & you can use the acronym STEAM to remember the 5 possible functions: S-Sensory (its feels good or meets some kind of sensory need) T-Tangible (a specific item or activity) E-Escape (avoiding or getting out of meeting a demand—what happened here) A-Attention (tantrums are rarely for this reason even though many adults see every tantrum as attention-seeking. Frequent attention based tantrums indicate that a child is not receiving enough attention in general & is a parenting problem) M-Medical (there is a physical cause like tiredness, hunger, sickness, etc.) This particular tantrum was E, escape from demand (also called demand avoidance). My daughter did not want to clean up, so she started to scream and cry. I was in the middle of getting ready to go to an appointment, so I couldn’t stop everything to sit with her for an extended period of time + I knew she would use that to further stall and get out of cleaning. So I remained communicative & loving while telling her she could take a few minutes to cry on the bed in the room next to me. Once she was ready for a hug, I freely gave it & helped her calm down enough to get back to the original task at hand! When she asked to put on lipstick, I knew I had the perfect logical reinforcer because it was something she asked for! Usually in life, you don’t need to give kids stickers or candy to listen, you just need to use the items and activities they already want to do as a little dangling carrot. I don’t call it a “reward” to my kids, but I present it like, “first clean, then lipstick.” After that, I broke down the task into just 10 items so she wasn’t overwhelmed & I was able to reward and positively reinforce her for cleaning to build up her confidence and allow her to finish her job! Make sure to follow me @kendraworth for all things REAL gentle parenting & no-tears sleep training. Head to the link 🔗 in my bio or hhsleep.com for more resources 💗 #creatorsearchinsights #momtok #tantrum #gentleparenting #parentingtok Real life tantrum example Real life gentle parenting example Kid tantrum man tantrums tantrum behavior stages and examples tantrums in 1 year

Kendra | baby & toddler expert

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Wednesday 21 October 2026 15:51:52 GMT