My 4-Year-Old Has TV Tantrums. What Can We Do?
This post is part of a series where our team of child mental health professionals answer real questions submitted by readers like you. This post deals with issues related to temper tantrums. Please take care when reading.
Even though temper tantrums are common in childhood, they’re never easy. One parent wrote in to ask for advice in responding to their daughter’s TV tantrums. Here’s what our team of child mental health experts recommended:
“My 4-year-old daughter throws a tantrum whenever we tell her that her TV time is over. She only has around 40 minutes a day, but she is never satisfied and can’t cope with turning it off. Some tantrums are worse than others, but I’m worried that she can’t cope with boundaries we set with the TV. I’m wondering whether I should just ban it altogether!”
- Shannon
Thank you so much for your question. This is a very common concern for parents because limiting screen time is often difficult.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children between the ages of 2 and 5 have no more than one hour of screen time per day, so you are doing an excellent job with this.
For small children it is often difficult to stop something that is pleasurable, especially if they have limited coping skills.
Instead of stopping screen time altogether, I would recommend using a timer with sound that makes it clear when screen time is over, and schedule screen time at the same time daily (if that is possible).
Also initially, give her verbal warnings for when screen time will end (close to when the timer will go off) and tell her other activities she can do after screen time is over. This may help decrease the intensity of her upset.
I would also model coping skills for her during activities that you are ending that may be pleasurable to show her how to handle the ending of an activity. For example, taking deep breaths, counting to 5, planning another time when you will be able to do the activity again, etc.
If you would like more individualized help, please reach out to Little Otter. We would be happy to support you. Or please feel free to submit another question and we will reply.
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