Meltdowns happen.
Virtually anything can set one off.
Sensory overload. Anxiety. A change in routine.
But since we never know what could set one off, we always have to plan for the possibility of a meltdown.
Ausome parents have to have a 6th sense about WHERE a meltdown could possibly occur, in order to plan for contingencies.
Parents know that some meltdown locations are better than others.
Ideally, a meltdown at home is “best.” Familiar places are “safe” places. They make for faster resets and safer outcomes.
Home is not out in public, so there are no gawkers or onlookers and no chance of others possibly getting hurt.
But we don’t always get to determine where a meltdown will occur.
The supermarket…
A movie theater…
A wedding…
A funeral? 😳
Many times parents will get overwhelmed just THINKING about how they would handle a meltdown in different scenarios. They won’t even attempt to take their child to those venues.
Meltdowns anywhere are not fun. But even “safe” venues can have unforeseen circumstances.
One time, when Jonah was 6, he had a HUGE meltdown on his favorite beach, because the tide was rising and started encroaching on his play area.
He could not abide the water level “moving.”
He began screaming and hurling rocks (first at the waves creeping up the shoreline, then in EVERY direction).
And of course, he had an unlimited supply of beach rocks readily available so I couldn’t just take them away.
Any words that I said in that moment would redirect his rage at me…
And even if I physically restrained him, I could not safely extract him from the location because the car was a half mile away up the shoreline.
What would you do?
Our saving grace was that it happened to be SO COLD, nobody else was at the beach with us so no one else could get hurt.
So I just stood with him and waited for the meltdown to abate.
I endured it with him.
Basically, I just walked out of range of the rocks and let him rage. I couldn’t do anything with him until he calmed down.
It took several hours.
I don’t remember exactly how much time passed, but it was well after sunset when we were finally able to leave.
The meltdown itself was pretty bad. It could have been so much worse.
We’ve had other public meltdowns, but that particular one stands out the most to me as the most “unfavorable location” in my mind for the potential injury to bystanders (had there been any).
What about you? What has been your most “stressful” meltdown experience?
#ausome