tantrum

I'm not sure if it's any help to you jjands but Maya is a colossal tantrum thrower, and I used to get so frustrated with her but now we have a rule that when I say "go to your room", she has to stay there until she has calmed down and is able to participate in family life nicely. That way it's not "you must stay there for X amount of time" which can seem like forever, but it also gives her the power to decide when she wants to calm down. Sometimes she's like a boomerang and only needs 30 seconds in her room, other times she'll disappear in there and fall asleep. If she stays in there I do go in and try to talk about what's happened, but only if she's ready.

I have to say tho that it wasn't an instant cure. To start with she didn't get the concept and it took a few times before she realised that she had control over how long she stayed there and that all she had to do was calm down. And I anticipate that as she gets older she will start refusing to go to her room when she's sent there - not quite sure how I'm going to handle that one coz I suspect a cold shower would just enrage her more!