What is a temper tantrum?
A temper tantrum, sometimes called a hissy fit or a conniption fit, is a raw and unplanned extreme emotional response to frustration, emotionally overwhelming situations, anger, sadness, unexpected events, or opposition by another person. During a temper tantrum a child may scream, hit, fling herself on the floor, be aggressive toward parents or siblings, throw things, kick things, and generally doesn’t respond to reason. Though the average temper tantrum lasts a couple of minutes, some children show remarkable persistence in this area and can carry on a tantrum for a long time, much longer than this average.
