How is the tantrum viewed in the Greenspan world of opening and closing circles of communication? Is it an opener or a closer, or is it dependent on the child or the interaction?
A tantrum is the mode of communication that a child has available to him at a given moment to express how he feels. Your best response to it is to tease out the feelings behind the tantrum. You don’t want or need to stop the tantrum, nor do you need to ignore it or let it play itself out without response. Instead, you want to be empathetic and supportive, and at the same time moving in to engage the child around their feeling. For some kids this may simply mean holding them supportively; for others, it might mean beginning to engage in some simple dialogue–wow, you look like you want to hit me! Where do you want to hit me? How many times? Hard or soft? What you are doing here is helping the child to more fully articulate how they feel. As I mentioned earlier, you may take the approach of drawing out some connections between body and feeling. Do you feel it in your head or your stomach? Is it a squeezing or a punching feeling? You may ultimately give the child what he wants or not–tha
Related Questions
- How is the tantrum viewed in the Greenspan world of opening and closing circles of communication? Is it an opener or a closer, or is it dependent on the child or the interaction?
- Are national delegations expected to make an opening and/or closing statements in plenary at VI CEA. How much time would be allotted to national for this?
- What is the Opening and Closing charge for?
