Stubborn or Strong Willed?

Well, Charlie loves laughing, playing, and of course eating. Another thing she is getting accustomed to these days is throwing tantrums. Mommy and I are trying to nip this in the bud, and not teach her that there is a payoff to misbehaving, but we just have a question... Does she really understand right now?

Super Nanny says children learn at every step of the way, so I'm guessing Charlie is throwing tantrums because we've done something along the way to reward her for them. In other words, she knows she gets something out of them. But how do you win as a parent?

I mean, we obviously know by now when she is really crying for a reason, or just whining because she's tired or frustrated. But either way, it's hard to stand by and see your little baby girl cry. It pulls at my heart pretty bad.

My buddy Mike always tells me you have to start early or you'll suffer late. Really, I think we're okay, but it is a little unlike Charlie to throw as many tantrums as she has lately. This morning, she actually laid on the floor and flailed around screaming for 2 minutes. Very tough time for me. My instinct is to get upset, but I know this will just create an even bigger tantrum, so I stayed calm and told her that if she continued, Daddy would have to put her down for a nap because she was obviously tired. I don't think she understands the reasoning part yet, but I do believe she learns from our actions. So off for a nap she went. She went straight to sleep, and awoke only an hour later in a much better mood.

So what now? Is this just a stage, or a sign that we pay too much attention to her tantrums? I guess we'll continue to figure it out. All in all, we're not doing badly. I mean, I'm using the word "tantrum" but it's really not too terribly bad. Just completely unlike Charlie to go to the extremes that she has been lately.