WiseJourney
SuperHonestlyContact Us
Back to WiseTips
Social & Emotional Development
Developing Self-Regulation
WiseTip: SE-REG-M1626-I01C

Acknowledge and verbally label your child’s strong emotions. For example, "It must be upsetting when your ice cream falls out of the cone, isn’t it?"

16-26 months
Interaction with child
WHY IT MATTERS

Tantrums often happen between 1 and 3 years old when children are learning how to express themselves using language. During this time, they are developing emotional regulation skills to handle more intense emotions.

1
  1. Kopp, C. (1982). Antecedents of self-regulation: A developmental perspective. Developmental Psychology, 18, 199–214. (Level III)
At this age, children may also be developing self-awareness and a growing sense of independence. Tantrums are a way for them to express and manage feelings and understand or change what's going on around them.

Parental co-regulation was found to be effective in helping toddlers with self-regulation. Co-regulation involves co-teaching and coaching self-regulation skills through modelling, instruction, practice opportunities, prompts for skill enactment, and

reinforcement of successive approximations

Reinforcement of Successive Approximations - Shaping with successive approximations is a procedure used to develop a new behaviour or one that rarely occurs. In shaping with successive approximations, a series of initial and intermediate behaviours are established in successive approximations to the desired target behaviour. The initial response that is reinforced bears some resemblance to the target behaviour (e.g., speech sounds and speaking in sentences) so that the intermediate responses can be progressively shaped toward the target behaviour.1

1. Sundel, M., & Sundel, S. S. (2018). Behavior change in the human services: Behavioral and cognitive principles and applications. Los Angeles: SAGE.

.
2
  1. Murray, Desiree W., Rosanbalm, Katie, Christopoulos, Christina, and Hamoudi, Amar (2015). Self-Regulation and Toxic Stress: Foundations for Understanding Self-Regulation from an Applied Developmental Perspective. OPRE Report #2015-21, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (Level III)

Caregivers can teach toddlers how to self-regulate by being responsive to their needs,

3
  1. Karreman, A., van Tuijl, C., van Aken, M. A. G., & Dekovic, M. (2006). Parenting and Self-Regulation in Preschoolers: A Meta-Analysis. Infant and Child Development, 15(6), 561–579. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ958131&site=ehost-live (Level I)
and modelling how to regulate their responses through calm assurances.
2
  1. Murray, Desiree W., Rosanbalm, Katie, Christopoulos, Christina, and Hamoudi, Amar (2015). Self-Regulation and Toxic Stress: Foundations for Understanding Self-Regulation from an Applied Developmental Perspective. OPRE Report #2015-21, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (Level III)
 Other ways of helping toddlers through the tantrum would be to verbally label and affirm their emotions, and teach appropriate actions when they are calmer. For example: "I can see you are upset – I would feel that way if I can't get that toy too, but asking for it nicely may be a better way than snatching and crying."

×

This website uses cookies to personalize your experience and to analyze site traffic. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our terms. Please refer to our privacy policy here.