“Don’t worry, he’ll grow out of it,” says the stranger at the supermarket as your 3-year-old writhes on the floor screaming.
Even if these words are less-than-reassuring in the moment, trust that the stranger is right. Your kid will eventually move on from those eardrum-rattling tantrums that seem like they’ll never end. What they won’t completely grow out of, though, is experiencing BIG emotions and not always knowing how to control them. And that’s okay.
Too often, we treat our children—and ourselves—like robots that will be able to solve all of life’s problems as soon as they download the right software. This chase for perfection is futile and counterproductive. When it comes to emotional regulation, the most we can ask for from our children is that they take each challenging experience as an opportunity to practice. While they will “fail” a good amount of the time, adopting this growth mindset creates room for lifelong learning and improvement.
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