環(huán)球英語(yǔ) 1453 Temper Tantrums: Helping Angry Babies
Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Liz Waid.
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And I’m Ryan Geertsma. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
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This is a tantrum. The screaming. The crying. The shouting. Sometimes there is kicking or hitting. What does the child want? She will not tell you. What will make her quiet? What will make her stop screaming? Should you give her a toy to play with? Should you remove her from the situation? Should you punish her?
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These are questions many parents struggle with. But, even if you do not have children, you may have seen or dealt with a tantrum. You may have seen a child in a tantrum on the bus or in the market. How can parents manage tantrums? How can people on the bus or in the market deal with and understand tantrums? Today’s Spotlight is on tantrums. In today’s program, we tell about a new study. This study can help people know what to do when a child has a tantrum.
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Almost every child has a tantrum at some point in his or her life. These tantrums can include screaming, crying, yelling, or fussing. They can also include physical actions like kicking or hitting. A child in a tantrum may stop breathing on purpose! This can be extremely frustrating for any parent. It makes parents angry and impatient.
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But many child experts believe that tantrums are a normal part of child development. Most children have tantrums between the ages of one and three. They are equally common in boys and girls. However, knowing these facts is little help to tired and angry parents.
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However, a group of researchers recently released a study. The results of this study may be able to help frustrated parents solve their tantrum problems. This group of researchers wanted to gather information on tantrums in toddlers. Toddlers are very young children - about ages one to three. The researchers decided to record the sounds of the tantrum. But they needed a way to record and study the sounds. Professor James A. Green was a researcher in the study. He described their process to NPR.
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“We developed a baby shirt that toddlers could wear. It had a high-quality wireless microphone sewn in it. Parents put this baby shirt on the child and press a go button. This begins the recording.”
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Toddlers in the study wore the special baby shirt for a few hours. If the toddler had a tantrum, the microphone recorded the sounds. After the experiment, the researchers had recorded over 100 tantrums.
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Then they began the work of studying the recordings. They compared the sound recordings in different ways. They put the information from the recordings into a graph. The graph could show the researchers clearly when the sounds changed. They noticed that each kind of sound looked different on the graph. But they also noticed that all of the tantrums followed a similar pattern - each had similar parts that repeated.
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The recordings showed that anger and sadness happened at the same time in the tantrum. And some sounds and physical actions usually went together. Professor Michael Potegal was another researcher involved in this project. He explained to NPR,
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“Screaming and yelling and kicking often go together. Throwing things and pulling and pushing things often go together. Combinations of crying, whining, falling to the floor and seeking comfort. These things also go together.”
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All this information was interesting. But could it be useful? The researchers believe that knowing this information will probably not stop a child from having a tantrum. But it CAN help parents and other adults manage the tantrums. It can help a parent know when to interfere with the toddler’s tantrum. And it can also help the parent feel a sense of control in a frustrating situation.
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The researchers did have SOME advice for parents. Many parents may try to manage the tantrum by asking their child questions.
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“What do you want!?”
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“Why are you doing that?”
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But the study found that asking questions was not a way to stop the tantrum. In fact, in some cases it made the tantrum worse! Professor Green explains:
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“When children are at the most angry, and they are screaming and they are kicking, probably asking questions may make that period of anger longer. It is difficult for them to process information. Answering a question from the parent may be too difficult. It is just adding more information into their brain than they can really understand.”
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Some child experts do suggest some talking during a tantrum. Many child experts believe tantrums often happen because toddlers cannot express themselves. A toddler is still forming her communication skills. So, these experts suggest that adults give toddlers the words to help the toddlers express themselves. These words help to calmly correct the child, or to explain what is happening to the child.Voice 1 Dr. Sears is a respected child expert in the United States. He suggests that an adult explain the situation. For example, the child may want to play with a dangerous object, like a knife. The adult can calmly tell the child why this is not permitted. The adult could say:
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“I am sorry, you cannot play with a knife. It is too sharp. You could cut yourself.”
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The internet website Babyzone also suggests talking to a child. Imagine a child who is hitting or kicking during a tantrum. They suggest expressing sympathy for the child’s feelings. An adult could say:
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“I know you are angry. But we do not hit.”
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This is one way for adults to deal with tantrums. But the study found that the best way to end a tantrum was to help the child to finish feeling anger. Researchers say that after the child was past the feelings of anger, he was left with the feeling of sadness. Then a parent could offer comfort and love. So how could parents help the toddler get past his anger? The answer is easier to say than to do. When a child is having a tantrum for no reason, it is best for the parent to just... do nothing!
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In fact, many experts agree that the best thing a parent can do when a tantrum begins is to stay calm. A child in a tantrum may not have control of herself. The website KidsHealth.org suggests that adults in these situations try to have enough self-control for themselves and their toddler!
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Finally, when the tantrum is over, there is one last important thing to do. Put both of your arms around the toddler in a hug. Give him a kiss. Encourage him. Tell him that you still love him. This is the most important thing for a child to know.
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The writer and producer of this program was Liz Waid. The voices you heard were from the United States. All quotes were adapted and voiced by Spotlight. You can find our programs on the internet at https://www.radioenglish.net This .program is called “Temper Tantrums: Helping Angry Babies”.
We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye.
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