TEMPERING TODDLER TANTRUMS NOW
MAY PREVENT AGGRESSION LATER
BEFORE YOU READ
1.
What
kind of a child were you? Well behaved or naughty? Did you get into fights or
misbehave? Were you in the habit of pushing the boundaries?
2.
If
you were in the habit of misbehaving, what were your reasons? Curiosity? Your
friends? Boredom? Or was there some other reason?
3.
What
were your parents’ and teachers’ reaction to your misbehaviour? Grounding?
Scolding? Slapping? Beating? Or did they react in some other way?
4.
How
common are slapping and beating in our country? What do you think the reason
is? Are the caregivers harassed? Are they overworked or stressed? Or do they
not stop to think?
5.
Do
you think there is a culture of corporal punishment in our country; if so what
effects do you think it has?
After working through the discussion questions at the
beginning and giving the students plenty of opportunity to voice their
opinions, distribute the texts. DON’T DISTRIBUTE THE TEXTS UNTIL THE DISCUSSION
IS COMPLETE. Parenting is a very familiar problem in our country and it will be
interesting to see how the students view the issue. The information the text
provides should be a real eye opener.
QUESTIONS
1.
Read
the stories of Merle and Ben. What is the reason for this tantrum phase?
Increasing
independence and willfulness collide with emotional and verbal immaturity.(P.
3)
2.
How
should excessive tantrums be dealt with?
Professional
attention / They may be a harbinger of psychiatric behaviour issues, including
depression and a propensity for violence. (P. 5) At this point you may want to
stop for a discussion; especially as all the reasons are listed in paragraph
six. Give students an opportunity to do some previewing and predicting.
3.
Now
have a look at paragraph seven and state clearly what you think belligerent and
curtail mean. No dictionaries!
Aggressive
/ control
4.
In
paragraph ten, the writer says “This behaviour is quite typical.” What is he
referring to?
a.
Sarah’s
playing with the pocket book.
b.
The
fact that her mother yanked it away.
c.
The
fact that her mother took it away saying “Come on Sarah; do we really have to
do this right now?
d.
All
of the above
e.
Howling
The answer is
“howling”. The students will need to read the whole of paragraph ten to make
certain of the answer. You might want to stop for a few words here as the
mother’s reaction is fairly typical in Turkey
5.
In
paragraph twelve, the writer says “The result is disappointment and rage”. What
results in rage? Why is the result rage?
Not
understanding why. (P. 11) The result of not understanding why is rage./ Unable
to express their feelings with words, the toddlers discharge them with…..
Again, it is suggested that you stop here and discuss paragraph thirteen in
preparation for the writing task.
6.
In
paragraph fourteen, Ben’s behaviour is described. According to the text, what
kind of an adult might he grow into?
Violent ( P.
16). The students may want to give their own answer and say aggressive; this is
fine. However a persistent problem is unacceptable.
7.
Read
paragraph seventeen and state clearly what you think harbingers means.
A
sign that something is going to happen; warning
8.
What
does “both types of behaviour problems” near the end of paragraph seventeen
refer to?
ADHD
and acting out as a child.(P. 18)
9.
Read
paragraph nineteen and state clearly what you think exacerbate means. Why are
language delays linked to aggression in toddlers?
Make worse /
because kids become frustrated by an inability to communicate and use fists…
10.
Read
the section on parenting behaviour. The authoritarian parent could prevent his
child growing up into an unruly and violent teenager if he fostered guidelines
and democracy (in the household).( P. 23)
11.
Why
can having a stern and unfriendly father lead to unruliness?
A hostile
person, may after all, equip one poorly for dealing with temper tantrums.
(P.24)
12.
Now
read the rest of Ben’s story and try and explain as briefly as possible why he
was having tantrums. Ben is…………………………… At what point should Ben’s mother
comfort him? Why?
Insecure (P26) /
After he has started to calm down; to reward him for regaining his composure.
13.
Now
read from the beginning of paragraph twenty eight until the end and answer the
following questions.
a.
How
are these four paragraphs linked?
b.
What
is the function of the second sentence in paragraph twenty eight?
c.
What
is mainly discussed in this section?
They
form the conclusion / It is the topic sentence for this section / Solutions
WRITING
TASK
Last
of all, give the students time to go back over the text and make a note of all
the
causes
and solutions of the problem. When they have done so, ask them to write a
cause
analysis essay. In the introduction, they can discuss the importance of the
issue
as
it leads to anti social behaviour in adults, and have a thesis statement that
clearly
indicates
that they will be discussing the causes. For the development, they can select
from
the causes in the text: genetic factors, language delays, smoking during
pregnancy,
certain parenting styles, socio-economic factors, marital problems and the
like.
In the conclusion, they can select ways of solving the problem as the text has
done.
Again they can select from among the points made in the text: being more
democratic,
giving simple guidelines, offering a reward or compromise, dealing with
language
delays, psychotherapy for authoritarian parents, teaching aggressive children
social
competence and the like. They will be tempted to borrow from the text to a
small
extent, this is beneficial as it has educational value so long as it doesn’t
involve
full scale copy pasting. This activity is also the ultimate reading task and as
such
invaluable- as are all writing activities that follow reading tasks.
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