“Laughter releases the same tension as tears,” Laura Markham, PhD. It certainly does! That is why the “F” of the A to Z of Taming Tantrums is for “Fun.”

It is really hard to stay cranky when you put a song on and dance like no-one’s watching. Moments of goofiness like that can really help encourage our children to cooperate with our requests, and help reduce tension that might be building.

Watch this week’s episode of our A to Z of Taming Tantrums series to learn why fun helps to reduce tantrums (and see my silly reenactment of “move down the escalator” that doesn’t fail to crack my kids up).

Use silliness whenever you can when your children start to dig their heels in. For example, you could say, “Are you coming out of the bathtub like a rocket (you “whoosh” them up out of the water and land on the moon –towel-) or like a clock (hold your child securely under the armpits and swing their legs back and forth: tick, tock)? Another example of this is, “Are we going upstairs like a crab or an elephant? (Use your best animal motions and sounds!)

Both of these examples use the parenting technique called an either/ or. I explain more about how to use those in this post and in my Taming Tantrums app (for iPhone & Android).

Either/ ors also really work well to get children in car seats! This is my favourite: “Are you getting into your seat like a snake or a cheetah?” As your child gets used to this, you could say: "What kind of animal is getting into your car seat today?" 

What goofy things do you do to break the tension in our family? I'd love to hear your tricks -please comment under the YouTube video!