5 Yr Old Tantrums

I feel your pain, my middle son used to do the same thing, only it was worse in stores. What I would do is just walk away. Go to another room, walk around the corner, believe me, once he figured out that he no longer had an audiance, he would stop. I would tell him I wasn't going to talk to him until he stopped screaming and crying because he didn't get his way. It only lasted a couple of weeks, but it seemed like it was a year!!
On a sad note, he's now 13 and thinks he knows everything... Just another stage to look forward to. :O)

With all the new changes and getting use to everything being different it may take her some time to get use to everything. what we had to do with our son when it came time for us to leave was make it short and sweet. take them in give them a kiss and hug tell them you love them and will be back soon and walk out the door. it was hard leaving with him screaming but the shorter i made it the less he cried said the daycare lady. we even did a sticker chart with him, if he was good and didn't throw the fit he would get a sticker and then a treat at the end of the week. before taking him into the daycare i would remind him that i would be home right after work and that if he was good with me leaving he would get a sticker for the day. same went at home with the fits... it was the one, two, three then time out, if they had to go to time out they didn't get a sticker for the day, and i would remind them of that at one and two and then if i got to three tell them they had a time out and lost the sticker so lost the reward at the end of the week. this didn't happen over night, it took about 3-4 weeks for the kids to understand the reward or loosing the reward, but trust me once they got to get the reward they understood very quickly what they would loose out on and the problems did go away kinda quickly. good luck and hopefully this will help!

Do you also have a new babysitter? I would think that something that your child does not like is happening when you are not there. A 5 yr old has communication abliity but sometimes is unable to really explain why they like or don't like something. My advice is to pack a picnic lunch and take your daughter to a park or somewhere you two can talk and not be interrupted. Try to get her to tell you why she doesn't like her babysitter. It could be something as simple as the babysitter is making her eat all her green beans and she doesn't like green beans. Or maybe she can't go outside to play as often as she would like, or watch cartoons when she wants.
I don't want to alarm you but I picked my daughter up from daycare one day when she was about 14 months old and she had a slap bruise across her face. I took her to her doctor and her doctor called the police and took pictures. Of course she never went back to that daycare again. My nephews were in Boy Scouts and as teens they were molested by their leader. Their parents are well educated and their Mom has a teaching degree. My neice was molested at summer camp and her father has a PH D in psychology and her mother a Master's is child psychology and was a teacher also. None of these parents had a clue that something was happening to their children until after they were over 21 yrs old. My point..... because this is your own child you may not see the signs that someone is abusing your child. You trust these people but if your child is screaming and throwing a tantrum everytime you leave for work something is going on. Talk to your child.

Hi J.,

I'm a single mom also with a 5 year old son. I just started a daycare. There are a few things to try. One don't ramble on that mommy loves you and I will be back and hugs and kisses. Say it once and be on your way to work. Try to make sure that you are giving yourself enough time at home before you have to leave so everyone does not feel rushed. Do the tantrums only happen at daycare, and does your daughter want to leave right away or is she happy when you pick her up and not want to leave. In this case I wouldn't blame the daycare. Your daughter is just testing you to see how long you will stay. I would say if she is running to get out of the daycare, and when you drop off doesn't want to go, there may be a bigger issue with the daycare. If you have a gut instinct of what is going on trust that. I know that I also had problems with my boyfriend. My son all of the sudden felt he wasn't part of something, so make sure that the boyfriend is not just there for you but for the whole package. Good luck, S.