We’re in the midst of the dreaded ‘terrible two’s’ and we were a bit optimistic in thinking that we got off lightly… Liam is gearing up his unreasonable temper tantrums with alarming frequency now!
Case in point: Today was ‘Mumma and Liam’ day as daddy had a meeting. It was a lovely day. We wandered down to the sea where we came across a big bulldozer pushing the rocks, driving in the water, and then parking right under our noses. Exciting!! Then we headed up to the Parc du Chateau as Liam wanted to go to the waterfall, and while we were there, he sweetly asked, “Mumma, please can I have a Calippo?” (Calippo is a frozen ice treat). And so we settled on a park bench, in the shade, where he slurped his Calippo while enjoying the music of the street performer. When he was nearly done, he jumped down, said “I don’t like it, I’m all done” and I asked if he was finished so we could throw the rest in the garbage can. “Yes.”
You can see what’s coming, yes? Not five minutes later he’s howling ‘I want my Calippo, I want my Calippo, I WANT MY CALIPPO!!!!’ Along with some theatrical throwing himself down on the ground, it made for some good performance art. He failed to come to terms with my reasoning that a) he said he was done and we could throw it out, and b) it was now melted, and gone. And so, firmly but gently I said ‘You’re tired. Let’s go home’.
And then came the sequel: Temper Tantrum II…. “I want to go to the playpark, I want to go to the playpark, I WANT TO GO TO THE PLAYPARK!!!”
With as much patience and grace (and creativity) as I could muster, I corralled him back to the lifts to take us down to the old town, and then home. Liam was intermittently sniffling and crying about his want for Calippos and playparks. Every once in a while a heartfelt sob escaped him. I felt his pain, poor monkey.
When we got back down to the bottom of the lifts, and he was near recovered from his devastating disappointments, I explained to him that if he screams, cries and has a temper tantrum when he wants something, he’ll never get it. He took this in. He thought for a few seconds, and he sweetly said, “Mumma, please can we go to the playpark?”
How I wish I could have said yes… but it was past noon and I had to get into Monaco for work. And so he learned a hard second lesson, but thankfully with less tears: Sometimes, even if you ask nicely, you can’t always get what you want.
Not to worry… by the time we got home he was happy and chirpy and doing tricks on his scooter. Calippos and playparks a distant memory. Until tomorrow. Or tonight.
Bring it on.
