What your child wants

The immaturity of a child’s emotional brain can make it difficult to regulate emotions, leading to inappropriate actions. At this stage, the child has no ability to step back from a situation. Alone, the child will not be able to channel his emotions, and may react violently by screaming, hitting or biting. Crying and temper tantrums are the expression of an emotion that overwhelms the child and that he or she is unable to regulate. Adopting the right response to these overwhelming emotions can have a cathartic effect on the child’s social and emotional development.