Tantrum
Origin
Definition
- 1: a fit of bad temper
Description
A tantrum (or temper tantrum or tirade or hissy fit) is an emotional outburst, usually associated with children or those in emotional distress, that is typically characterized by stubbornness, crying, screaming, yelling, shrieking, defiance, angry ranting, a resistance to attempts at pacification and, in some cases, violence. Physical control may be lost, the person may be unable to remain still, and even if the "goal" of the person is met he or she may not be calmed. A tantrum may be expressed in a tirade: a protracted, angry, or violent speech.
Tantrums are one of the most common forms of problematic behaviour in young children, but tend to decrease in frequency and intensity as the child grows older. For the toddler, tantrums can indeed be considered as normal phenomena, with the tantrum's energy serving as a measure of the strength of character its harnessing may eventually create.
While tantrums may be seen as a predictor of future anti-social behaviour, in another sense they are simply the result of frustration leading to a temporary loss of control, and will normally grow fewer and fewer with patient handling as the child develops.
Selma Fraiberg warned against "too much pressure or forceful methods of control from the outside" in child-rearing as liable to provoke tantrums: "if we turn every instance of pants changing, treasure hunting, napping, puddle wading and garbage distribution into a governmental crisis we can easily bring on fierce defiance, tantrums, and all the fireworks of revolt in the nursery."[1]
