When my toddler has emotional outbursts, I ignore her. The tantrums tend to pass when I'm not paying attention anymore.

Courtesy of the author

I could see the emotional monsoon coming from a mile away. That's why, as we approached the house, I gently warned my daughter that we would need to take her rainboots off before going inside. She continued splashing through the puddles in our driveway, either unable or unwilling to hear me. Sure enough, when we entered the garage and sat down to take off our shoes, a torrent of tears erupted.