Funny Tantrums

My three and a half year old used to have the worst tantrums in the world. He has a speech disability which made his tantrums more frequent and, in some cases, worse. We had to be very careful where we took him and what we did. If we took him to the library we knew it would end in a tantrum and loud screams to irritate all of the other people at the library! If we went out to eat, we knew that it could result in a tantrum to make everyone hate us. If I went grocery shopping with him, I had to be prepared for the worst!

However, there was one thing about his tantrums that always made us smile behind our hands. We always did our best not to laugh or in any way encourage him, but it was hard when he did this! When he got really worked up, he would collapse on the floor. He would not THROW himself on the floor like so many kids and kick his feet and pound his fists, he would gently lay himself down. Then, he would spread out his arms and legs and lay there. He looked like a chalk outline. He would then cry and scream loudly, but he would not move. And, if you tried to pick him up he would be compeltely limp and hard to handle.

Our best guess is that he wanted us to know he was upset, but he wasn't about to hurt himself doing so! He would do this "chalk outline" anywhere. Everyone always laughed when they saw him do it. It was very funny to watch this screaming 2 year old carefully lay himself down and arrange his arms and legs before continuing his tantrum! The funniest thing about this, is that he proceeded to teach his younger brother how to do this as well. So, now that he is beyond the worst of his tantrums, we have a new "chalk outline" master!