Beyond the Tantrum: Understanding What Your Child Needs Most

Clinical Psychologist Dr. Becky Kennedy says it’s helpful to think about tantrums this way: kids are born with all of the feelings and none of the skills to manage those feelings. Kids have tantrums when they have big feelings without the skills to handle those feelings. We call the management of feelings, emotion regulation skills, and it’s our job as parents and caregivers to teach kids the skills to handle their feelings.