Why Toddlers Throw Tantrums
Imagine this: You’re in the grocery store in the snack aisle. Seemingly out of nowhere, your otherwise cheerful toddler launches into a full-blown meltdown. It’s a temper tantrum—a kicking, crying, red-faced temper tantrum. But why?
In the premiere episode of Parentalogic, hosts Dr. Alok Patel and Bethany Van Delft break down the breakdown. Equipped with an almost accurate portobello mushroom brain model, the duo demonstrates what researchers think is happening in your toddler’s brain, showing how perceptions of injustice—like not getting a cookie—explode into outrage when brain signals temporarily spiral out of control.
First, a toddler’s brain stem receives emotional input from the rest of the body. Then, the amygdala gets word of this perceived injustice or threat and sends a distress signal to the hypothalamus, triggering an elevated heart rate and blood pressure. The resulting reactions—anger, fear, stress, or a combination of all three—are important survival instincts. But when these reactions spiral out of control in the snack aisle, as a parent or caretaker, all you may feel is helplessness.
It isn’t until kids are around 4 years old that the prefrontal cortex, the self-regulation traffic cop of the brain, starts to control these emotions and halt the adrenaline-fueled meltdown. What does this all mean? There’s hope in sight: Your kid won’t be a grocery store gremlin forever.
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