If you haven’t had to deal with a temperamental toddler, are you even a parent? Even with the most well-behaved little ones, a toddler meltdown is inevitable. That’s just how they are; their little brains are still developing. Unfortunately, we have to be the ones who are on the receiving end of the results. One mom on Reddit was having a difficult day with her little one and decided to ask a bunch of parents to commiserate with her. They did not disappoint!
Every one of their responses will have you nodding your head. Because if you have a kid, every single one of these replies will have you saying, “Been there, done that!” Toddlers are irrational little tyrants, but we love them anyway.
The mom who started this didn’t know she was doing anything wrong.
She shared with the r/Parenting forum on Reddit that her almost 3-year-old daughter wanted to color together. Mom was excited, so she got everything set up for them. Suddenly, things went downhill fast.
“MOMMY YOU ARE COLORING WRONG. STOP COLORING LIKE THAT!!” the little girl yelled. Mom was visibly confused because she wasn’t doing anything out of the norm.
“15 minutes of me trying to figure out why she is hysterically crying and ya know what the problem was???? I WAS USING MY LEFT HAND TO COLOR,” she wrote, explaining that she’s left-handed.
“She had an absolute meltdown because I color with my left hand and not my right hand like her. When I tried to explain and show I can’t use my right hand to color BECAUSE I AM LEFT HANDED, she became absolutely, utterly UN. FREAKING. HINGED.”
She then posed the question to other parents, asking for their best toddler meltdown stories.
There is a time and a place for a party.
“5 year old lost it because I wouldn’t let him go deliver handmade invitations to a party he thinks he’s hosting to our neighbors at 9:30 in the morning while wearing a pajama shirt, underwear, and one croc. He saw nothing wrong with this,” one parent wrote.
The parent added, “no toddler tantrums from the 2 year old yet but the day is still plenty young.”
Small children do not like to be saved, so just let them hurt themselves.
“The 2 year old freaked out because she pricked her finger on a spiky cactus,” another parent shared. “She didn’t freak out because it hurt and had drawn blood, she freaked out because we moved the cactus to a high shelf and wouldn’t let her keep poking it with all her uninjured fingers.”
Never do things out of order. It will be a disaster.
“My three year old became ENRAGED when I put her shirt on before her pants… and wailed until I took her shirt back off and put her pants on First.”
There can only be one winner.
“I had my niece for the day today, we had a disagreement over whether she had a poop in her nappy or not,” someone else wrote. “I tried to explain to her that her going boss eyed in a corner, straining and then the intense aroma surrounding her afterwards lead me to believe she had pooped, she disagreed and told me it was in fact me who had pooped. We had a spirited exchange about the issue which resulted in me changing her nappy while she laughed at me and called me a poopy.”
Toddlers really have strong opinions about toast.
“Cut toast into triangles not squares…4F… 2F meltdown because we told her not to eat spoonfuls of butter while making said toast,” another parent shared.
That parent wasn’t the only one. Another person wrote, “I was making toast. He asked for butter on his toast. So I put butter on his toast.”
This little one has a hidden talent.
“She grabbed a book, and I started reading it to her but it was upside down. So I tried to flip it over and she had an absolute meltdown and ripped a page out,” a commenter shared.
Maybe next time, just order a cheese pizza.
“Asked for a slice of pepperoni pizza, then asked me to take the pepperonis off, proceeded to sob because she could see the red sauce under the cheese and now her pizza is too spicy,” another parent chimed in.
Banana? Instant toddler meltdown.
“3 year old wanted a banana, but couldn’t open it, so asked me to do it, but only a little bit. So I broke the top open the least I could and he lost his mind because I wrecked it. Then we taped the banana peel back up and he was fine opening it himself after that,” another reply read.
Making decisions is really hard when you’re little.
“My 3 yo wanted a leftover birthday cupcake, the meltdown was over chocolate or vanilla, he is at a stage where he gets stuck in a loop, I want chocolate, no I want vanilla, chocolate, vanilla. End result cupcakes are now in the trash to prevent future meltdowns.”
Once they start melting down, they can’t stop.
“My three year old got mad because I said he can’t have the bubblegum that he found somewhere. Then he had another fit because I let the dogs outside (usually his job but he wouldn’t do it because of the bubblegum tantrum) He then got upset because his brother said hello to him – it’s been a long day.”
