How Can I Stop My Son from Throwing Him Self on the Floor When Mad?

No audience no performance. When he throws himself on the floor just walk away and leave him there. The more attention you give him the more often he'll do it.

When you see him starting to get to the point where he usually throws himself on the floor get down on his level and help him work through those big emotions putting words to his feelings and helping him find a way to make it work.

I used to just walk away (make sure they were safe) and I would say "I am going in here (next room) and going to read this book/play with this fun toy and when you can behave and want to join me, we'll have lots of fun" and that did it.

Or I'd say "When you can be nice and quiet, and not hurt mommy's ears, you may join me for reading time" and that seemed to work.

Or I'd just ignore.

Ignoring then doing something fun they didn't get to participate in was helpful.

Totally ignore him. Like you can't see him. This stopped my kid's tantrums.

Yep. They do that. He's so young. He doesn't have any other way of communicating his frustration to you. As his speech improves, you can encourage him to use his words. For now, it's important that you stay calm. If he's upset that he couldn't have a cookie, get down on the floor next to him and say, "You really wanted a cookie, didn't you? I like cookies, too. It's hard when you can't have the things you want." Just empathizing with him can help. If it doesn't help and he just keeps kicking or punching the floor, try saying, "I know you're upset. Mommy's going to go to the living room. You can come, too, as soon as you're ready."

If those tricks don't work or he can't hear you over his own crying, just step away. Definitely keep an eye on him so that he doesn't hurt himself, but just give him some space and try not to give him any attention. Eventually, he will learn that he doesn't get the desired response and stop throwing temper tantrums.

But right now, he doesn't have the language skills to tell you why he's upset. That takes time. Even when he can say more words he may not be able to even know why he's upset. That's just a developmental milestone that comes later. As hard as this is on you, this is just part of life with a 2 year old.

Get a book on early child development.
My favorite was "What to Expect the Toddler Years".
Tantrums are completely normal - you just have to learn how to manage them.
Your son is coming up on the Terrible Twos followed by the Terrible Threes.
By 4 years old they are pretty done with it.

When our son was that age if he was pitching a fit I'd haul him off to his room, hold him in my lap and spend some time in the rocking chair with him till he was exhausted enough that the tantrum was over.
Once he was tired then he'd want some rocky baby time.

It's a tantrum. Walk a few feet a way and watch to see if he's safe. Hitting his head as a part of the fall would be ok if he's on a carpet or somewhere soft. If you're concerned about safety, pick him up wriggling and screaming to a safe place. He's frustrated and angry. Let him be angry. You cannot force or talk him to get him to stop. A way to think about what to do is to remember how you feel when someone tries to get you to stop crying and yelling. Who tell you to calm down and insist that what you're crying about is not important. I either get more angry trying to get that person to understand. A toddler has few words and an immature brain. He's all emotion.

That's a tantrum. You ignore those. He'll stop if he hurts himself or if he doesn't get the attention.

you say 'when you use your words i'll listen to you' and walk away.

he's frustrated, but you giving him an audience and making it yours to control is exactly what he doesn't need.

respond warmly when he tries to communicate appropriately.
khairete
S.

These are all good suggestions-- unless he has autism. Our son was doing that at 18 months, and our responses only made it worse. We had no idea he was autistic. Please have him screened, because that's a very different need. There are therapies like ABA that will help. And the earlier it's caught, the better the later adjustment to the neurotypical world. Our doctors didn't take our concerns seriously, but the local county mental health center did. Some cities have screening through the school district.

I will bet that your little guy can't talk yet. Is that right? Toddlers are so frustrated when they are not able to communicate effectively.

He's having tantrums, and he's too little to understand that he can hurt himself. You have to protect him.

Get a playpen and have it in the room that you spend most of your time in. Immediately pick him up and put him in the play pen so that he can't hit his head on the floor. WALK OUT OF THE ROOM so that he doesn't know you are paying attention to him. Sometimes kids continue their tantrums because they have an audience (here's a good example of it - it's kind of funny to those of us whose children have long grown out of this phase, but may not be funny to those who are in the middle of enduring them? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM8vKTFbMZM

The best thing you can do other than putting him in a safe place and walking away from him is working with him on his communication. If he is not speaking, talk to the pediatrician about it. He should have a 24 month check-up coming up. Ask for a speech evaluation if he is not talking much. You can get help from the school district.