When your kid’s in the middle of a tantrum, it can be tough to keep yourself from having your own meltdown too. “Meltdowns are terrible, nasty things, but they’re a fact of childhood,” says Ray Levy, PhD, a Dallas-based clinical psychologist and co-author of Try and Make Me! Simple Strategies That Turn Off the Tantrums and Create Cooperation. “Young kids—namely those between the ages of 1 and 4—haven’t developed good coping skills yet. They tend to just lose it instead.” Keep reading to learn more about the causes and types of toddler tantrums, with tips for dealing with particularly nasty ones.

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