50 Hilariously Silly Reasons For Kids’ Meltdowns That The Parenting Books Didn’t Warn About
Interview With ExpertBeing a good parent is all about being flexible, adaptable, and rolling with whatever weirdness comes your way. Things rarely—if ever!—turn out the way you plan them. And raising your mischievous munchkins is no different.
Your little tykes might have a massive meltdown for a silly reason, but veteran parents know not to get flustered and instead embrace the comedy. Our team at Bored Panda has collected some of the funniest tweets (now called X’s) about the most ridiculous reasons that parents saw their kids throw temper tantrums over the years. Scroll down for some feel-good and relatable hilarity!
Bored Panda wanted to find out how to react to temper tantrums, so we reached out to popular writer Samantha Scroggin, the host of the witty 'Walking Outside in Slippers' parenting blog. Read on for the insights she shared with us, including why it's so important to really listen to why your kids are upset. "They might be irrational, but their feelings are real."
This post may include affiliate links.
When my stepdaughter was 3 I made her some toast. She had a complete emotional breakdown because she HATES toast, despite the fact she had eaten it just the day before. I said "Ok cool, toast is off the menu" and made her something else. Less than an hour later this adorable little agent of chaos walked up to me and asked for some toast like nothing ever happened. Toddlers are different, I miss those days.
Ahh kids - can't kill em. Looks like this applies to all the posts here
Part of what makes parenting interesting. There's never a dull moment lol
Samantha, the creator of the 'Walking Outside in Slippers' parenting blog told Bored Panda that she is all too familiar with temper tantrums.
"Not only from my kids, but I apparently threw some epic ones as a kid. I've definitely lost my temper along with my kids while dealing with their meltdowns. That does not work well," she opened up to us.
"I've found that if I can remain calm despite their emotional upheaval, and wait it out, that's the best approach. Maybe there are consequences, but it can be hard to get them to care about that in the heat of the moment," the parenting blogger shared.
Infrasonic, Ultrasonic would be physically destructive to surroundings and ears
Load More Replies...Wait until they figure out the pitch to almost burst your eardrum. Mine has! 😃...At her best, I can feel my eardrum vibrate. It's impressive...
"Just get them to a quiet place away from people if you can, and help them calm down. Then talk about what is making them so upset, and really listen. They might be irrational, but their feelings are real."
Blogger Samantha was kind enough to share a few pearls of wisdom to help out new parents who feel overwhelmed and stressed out by all the tantrums.
"Parenthood is not easy, and it's probably not going to be like we expect! I would suggest carving out a bit of alone time if you can," she said.
Mm, some mixed messages here. Better give the munchkin a shiny to distract them.
This is not too different than some of the middle managers I've worked for...
My grandmother came to the US from Norway. As a rule, when the US is out in the Olympics, we cheer for Norway. Me: Oooh! The Norwegians are in first! Go, Norwegians! My toddler: No! They are NOT your-weigians! They are MY-wegians! Mine! My-wegians! Toddler rules of possession are fierce, friends!
A moment of silence for poor dad, what was he thinking? If you wanna' be a dad, you gotta' know your stuff...
but if you had said 'ooh, is that Your Little Pony?' she'd have thrown a tantrum because you got the name of the show wrong :P
My 2yr granddaughter had a big episode last week because she wanted green ribbons. Went and got them herself - purple ribbons. We had to re-learn the colour spectrum for three days before she reverted to normal. Then we had a second meltdown when the new green went back to purple.
read AM and pitchered the f*****g evil computer from I Have No Mouth But I Must Scream and wondered what that had to do with toddlers lol
What is it with toddlers and dishes in specific colors?
"The whining and crying comes with the territory, unless you are lucky enough to have a unicorn child."
Having some healthy boundaries, according to the mom, is an essential part of parenting. "I try to set boundaries with my kids, that I need some alone time or I'm working on something," Samantha told Bored Panda.
"They don't always respect those boundaries. My daughter is a stage 3 clinger! But fresh air works wonders for us all."
My advice, get a box and see what happens. Time to quantum up folks. Buckle up butter cup. You're in for a bumpy ride.
Omg the amount of times I had this fight with my daughter. I want my soup I don't want my soup I want my soup I don't want my soup I want my soup AAAHHH
What I used to do when my wee ones were little was if they had a tantrum about calling someone ridiculous, I would call my mom lol. Tell her what the emergency is and then proceed to chat to my mom. Usually sorted it. Then get off the phone and told the wee one that it would be a couple of hours before they could come to fix, help etc whatever they wanted. That usually placated them. My mom used to laugh when I'd call a few times a day, but she loved it, I moved an entire continent away 🤣
What you were supposed to do was showcase your incredible birdcalls to call the bird out of the tree!
Temper tantrums aren’t something 'awful' that should be avoided at all costs. They’re a very natural part of childhood. And crying itself is a completely normal part of being a human being. No matter how ‘perfectly’ you parent, at some point, you’ll have to deal with a major meltdown. And there isn’t always a clear-cut reason why they’re upset and why the tears start rolling!
It’s important that you let your kids feel whatever they’re feeling, instead of instantly distracting them. Being in touch with your emotions is an essential part of being an emotionally intelligent adult later on.
Wow. I had 2 kids and nothing even remotely like this ever happened. What are you teaching these little monsters?
Me: "Babe are you making waffles?" Her: "No I haven't got up" Me: "Why's my pillow wet? Why do I smell maple syru-..."
My brother's sons didn't throw tantrums over being spoken to, but made it clear that further communication would be unwelcome. The middle on once said, "No, Aunt Karen, don't talk to me" when I said "Good morning" to him. His younger brother kept it simpler: "Baaah!" was frequently his response to a hello/good morning/how's it going?
Kids are slowly developing their self-regulation, emotional resilience, and reasoning skills, so you can’t expect them to behave like super polite and highly rational adults all the time. That’d be naive. We also shouldn’t forget about how many adults throw tantrums as well, even though they should know better!
We all have our little breakdowns from time to time. There’s nothing embarrassing about it, even though we might feel uncomfortable later on remembering how we behaved. You cry. You feel what you feel. You move on.
According to Dr. Ashanti Woods, a pediatrician working at Baltimore’s Mercy Medical Center, there are some common age-related reasons why your child might be crying. The expert explained to Healthline that toddlers between 1 and 3 years of age tend to cry because they’re tired, frustrated, embarrassed, or confused.
Maybe it’s that he is being overstimulated by sound and doesn’t know how to communicate that because he’s 2.
Maybe he wants pixie ears instead. Maybe we should create a category for people who feel like a fairy/pixie/fictional thing at heart. So like a furry but a 'fairy'
I was a weird kid and it didn't hurt to have my shoes on the wrong feet. The only reason I swapped was because everyone bugged me about it and Mum said I looked like a duck.
Heheh my 3 year old had a melt down because when putting on her shirt, the neck part obviously expands and goes around her head. To her, this means the shirt does not fit at all in any shape or form...Queue screaming crying :)
Honestly, I probably would’ve followed their demands and laughed at the stumbling that would produce the next tantrum. Gotta find your humor where you can. 😂
So many influencers out there, climbing that they’re 18 month old is reading Shakespeare
Meanwhile, preschoolers between 4 and 5 years old might cry when they get physically or emotionally hurt.
Older kids, ages 5 and up, might start bawling because they get injured or lose something special. However, the specifics will always differ depending on the family in question, the particular circumstances, and the individual child. And just because we’re older doesn’t mean that ‘basic’ things like being tired don’t affect us. They’re often more important than we think.
Honestly, I’m still throwing that tantrum. Pluto is a planet and always will be. Otherwise, just what is mother sending?
She never says how old Sienna is .. maybe she's like twenty 😁
Load More Replies...The toddler will not self destruct at the end of this minute. Though clearly you will wish you did.
Hmmm. This could be why you occasionally run into frazzled parents that dress their heathens the night before. Never a parenting fail as long as it’s clean and on. Backwards, forwards, inside out. Just on. That’s sometimes the only win you can ask for.
Whatever the specific situation might be, parents ought to go through a quick mental checklist of the most likely explanations for why their munchkins are crying so hard that every passer-by is looking at them. First of all, consider that your kid might simply be hungry. (This applies to us adults, too! We can be pretty cranky when we’re famished.) Having a secret snack stash wherever you go is a must.
Next, consider whether your child might be feeling pain or discomfort. Maybe they’re too hot or too cold or they’ve got a stomach ache or some other parts of their bodies hurt.
Obviously, the older your kid, the more they’ll be able to vocalize how they feel (and what the possible reasons behind those feelings might be). But you should still be proactive and ask a few questions about what might be causing them discomfort.
To be fair, *everything* is probably like demon sorcery when you're two
Load More Replies...Wait till a cloud passes over. Then you'll get a tantrum because her shadow is gone.
It was an interesting time when mine discovered her shadow. Confusion, excitement, fear, anger...In that order...
At moments like this, it would probably be much easier to just say "Sure, you can raft a lava flow!" since unless you live in Hawaii or Iceland, there's probably zero chance of the kid actually finding any lava. It might even distract them for a while pretending to raft down lava.
Times like these I’m glad mine grew up with such classics as Teletubbies, Reading Rainbow and Between the Lions.
I watched this actually attempted by geologists their boat kept melting. Funny and frustrating.
Ah, like my 2yo. She likes this song about colors on dresses (se min kjole) as a lullabye and usually when I'm 1-2 verses into the song she'll look at me and say "no, mom! Dress song!" Then I tell her it's what I'm actually singing she says "no, mom! DRESS SONG!" And I'll just continue from where I got to in the song and she'll be happy and fall asleep. Weird kid.
In our experience, something that most often helps no matter how bad our mood is taking a nap. Sleep fixes a lot of things. And the world seems brighter after a quality snooze. If you notice that your child is extra cranky and unable to regulate their emotions anymore, they might need some rest.
Well, send them my way. I have figured out what setting to use on my air fryer to achieve exactly this result in frozen pizza. Not that it’s my personal preference, but hey. As long as it’s not still frozen, eh?
Actually they make those bath Butters now and you could let them play with that and watch it melt in the tub and it would moisturize them as long as he didn't try to stand up and slip and fall but they do make bath butter
Time to order handmade soap that looks like a stick of butter. Something tells me it’s out there. Somewhere
I'm 65... I like to fill my tub with spaghetti sauce, climb in and pretend I'm a meatball.
I feel judging coming on...years ago, in Kmart, my daughter had a "throw myself on the floor" tantrum. We walked away around the corner, peeking to see how long it would take her to realize she was demonstrating to...no one. Took longer than we thought, but she never did that again.
I threw myself on the floor of the store beside her and started acting the way she was. She stopped, looked over at me, then stood up and said to the older lady watching her that she didn't know who I was. Luckily it was our local supermarket and the lady was my neighbour lol. She said to my daughter that maybe not act like that so I don't act that way either. Then my neighbour helped me up and whispered in my ear, good job mum. My daughter never had another tantrum in a store again. She threatened but I'd then put my handbag in the trolley as if I was going to join her on the floor again and looked at her with my right eyebrow lifted and she would calm down immediately and hug me and say I love you Mum. 😜
Load More Replies...Having experienced days where I’ve taken off my shoes on the way out the door from work, I felt this.
My niece was in a fit about her boot hurting at one point when I thought to ask her to rate the pain on a scale of 1-10. The answer was 3 and when I said we could take a look at it 5 minutes later if it was still bothering her, it was never mentioned again. Best realization ever.
And the *one* time you don't stop and investigate to make sure nothing is wrong, that's the time there will be like, a black widow in their shoe and you'll never live down the shame. You have to treat every ridiculous tantrum like the potentially serious event it isn't... just in case. Exhausting.
I once saw a kid throw a fit at a restaurant cause he wasn't allowed to sit in one particular spot, next to one particular woman.
I saw a video of a Dad who took his tantrum-having child out of the store, sat her on the hood of the car, and let her go full tantrum. When she finished, he asked her what she wanted to do now and then talked to her reasonably about what she did. I know it won't work for everyone, but this, to me, was an eye-opener.
Just have your own meltdown, it'll throw them off and they'll have to stop having theirs to watch yours.
Also, they see their favorite character on a box and they don't understand why they can't have it. Queue stage 5 meltdown...
Something else to consider is how your child spends their time. If they’re constantly glued to screens—phones, tablets, the computer, the TV—then you’ve got a problem. They’re probably extremely overstimulated. Your role as a parent is to step in and draw some healthy boundaries when it comes to tech use. Cartoons, video games, and music are all awesome. But too much of a good thing is going to have adverse effects.
Buy a bottle of real whipping cream, pour it in a bowl, and using a mixer , mix until little balls of butter appear. Drain off the buttermilk that you now have, and use the butter.
When my youngest was this age, he was terrified of anything red. Purple ketchup was briefly on the menu in our home. But, it did give me an idea for worst punishment imaginable. Painting the walls red was briefly an option.
At least your kid eats some red things....mine would not eat anything red for a couple of years.
Actually, he has 4 girls. As this, for example, is an old post from 2017, their ages vary. Be kind.
Load More Replies...Broadly speaking, children under the age of 2 should not be sitting in front of screens at all. However, the American Academy of Pediatrics notes that exceptions can be made for video chatting with relatives.
Any media that toddlers consume ought to be supervised by adults. Meanwhile, kids between the ages of 2 and 5 should only consume up to an hour of screen time per day. This should also be supervised.
When your kids are between 5 and 8 years old and no longer preschoolers, some experts suggest that the parents or guardians determine how much or little screen time they get. There is no clearly set recommendation because the circumstances will differ from family to family. So a one-size-fits-all approach simply won’t work. What’s vital is that parents talk to their kids about the healthy use of technology as they grow older. There’s a whole world to explore, fun skills to develop, and people to meet outside of screens.
No, they asked for warm ice. My youngest used to ask for untoasted toast. We offered him bread but he refused; he wanted untoasted toast.
Load More Replies...Didn't result in a tantrum but still funny. I like to drink V8. 3-year-old grandson points at the small can in the refrigerator and says to my wife "Want papa drink." She tells him he won't like it but he insists on trying it. Spits it out. 5-year-old sister wants to try it. She also spits it out. They both should have listened to grandma.
As much as I enjoy lemons and limes (I’ll peel and eat them like an orange), even I couldn’t enjoy this. 😂
Why not just let her try it the first time? Kids want to experience new things, and you upset her by not giving her the autonomy to find out for herself if she didn't like it. Then when she didn't, that just added to how upset she already was.
How many children has this guy and why are they so annoying all the time?
A lot of the posts are about the same children, the posts are all multiple years old.
Load More Replies...Which of these temper tantrum tweets (or, well, X’s now…) cracked you up the most, dear Pandas? What’s the strangest reason for a meltdown you’ve seen or heard about? How do you personally deal when faced with a massive tantrum? Be sure to share your thoughts with all the other readers in the comments!
For some more bizarre but funny tantrum stories, consider looking through Bored Panda’s earlier lists.
"Hamburger Hill" (1987), "Hot dog ... The Movie" (1983). "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" (2004), "Reuben, Reuben" (1983), "Chicken Salad Sandwich" (2019), "Big Mac" (1985), "Fight Club" (1999), ...
Load More Replies...One of the credit card companies had to buy several people new VCRs years ago because they had a commercial advertising their product protection plan that had a child sticking a PB&J in the VCR, and a bunch of kids emulated what they saw on the commercial.
I remember that commercial, and I remember thinking "they're going to regret doing that".
Load More Replies...Kid: "Daddy... the VCR won't work!" Me: takes apart VCR... finds a PB&J sandwich inside. Cleans VCR. "Why did you put a sandwich in the VCR???" Kid: "Because it fit."
My 3yo grandson stuck one of my cd's in my toaster. Have no idea why he thought it would toast.
You would be surprised at the number of items a VCR could hold before it wouldn’t play … I was shocked! Apparently both of my kids had fun when I wasn’t in the room.
Many of these are 'mirror tantrums'. Have watched my grandson have them. can't recall specifics but one was about food. Like "I don't want to eat peas!" "Okay, you don't have to have any peas." Followed by second meltdown because he wasn't getting any peas. Saw that sort of thing a few times.
I think a time-out would be necessary. She's old enough to see her problem.
That'll only make it worse if you dare suggest they take a nap. My 2 year old daughter says "Noooooooooo, no nap! Bad Dada!"
Load More Replies...But mom (and dad) know how to do everything! It's a fine line, making your kids believe you know best to keep them safe and alive when in reality, we don't know $h/#.
Well, obviously this is a colossal parenting fail. You should’ve known way before now that art classes were necessary for proper childhood development. 😂
Gotta have the whole crew together at all times. Mine currently has 4 crew members...
Ohhh lord. My sister used to bring up to 10 of her dolls, stuffed animals, etc. She also used to bring up a LOAD of books.
Load More Replies...Those extra hands never developed in your kiddo either, huh? I feel your pain
My wife and I mistakenly took 3yr old with us on 5yr olds first kindergarten day. Everything was cool until we got 20 feet away from the building and she realized she was not staying. EPIC meltdown, wife trying to stuff her in the car, she's hanging onto the rain gutter, resisting, local cop drives by(small town thank God), he hits the brakes, wife holds the screaming ,thrashing, 3 year old out and asks if he wanted her. Apparently not... he sped off.
They have epic grip strength at that age. Always catches you off guard lol
Load More Replies...Aww. Now this is one I would’ve had to comply with and pack a lunch just like I did for the elder nothing says you can’t serve school lunch at home.
Wait until the mid teens. All hormones, no brains, the entire world is wrong, and it's your fault. To make matters worst, the little beast asked my brothers what I was like at that age, and they told him.
It's all so HARD. I remember Christmas, I was 13 ½ & really wanted this new doll. I got the doll, then spent the entire day hating myself and everyone else. Me, because what kind of teenager *wants* a toy doll & everyone else for not knowing better. The pictures of me on that particular Christmas just radiate self loathing. I wish I could go back in time and tell younger me to be more gentle with myself & everyone else. As it turned out, toys WERE way cooler than makeup & boys.
Load More Replies...Well this, I can understand. I mean if the empty gogurt wrapper is his best friend, then what kind of parent are you to make him throw it away?
OH GOD, the first time we put a band aid on my child. *child stares at band aid on knee for 6 seconds* *child goes full DEFCON 1 meltdown*
Understandably. Any day would be better if it featured cake and presents.
Throw her an un-birthday party with her toys and sing the Alice in Wonderland song.
Texture & Toddlers should be a Netflix limited series drama.
They would mess it up and cancel it half way through the first season.
Load More Replies...I wish it was just a texture thing that 3 yr old grand won't eat that would be much easier... Try no color, no liquid or wetness (the drier the better for her) not sweet, not hot or cold, & just because she eats it today, doesn't mean tomorrow she won't gag on it🤷♀️🤦♀️
That's a possibility. My niece would have issues with food before she was officially diagnosed
Load More Replies...You need to plan your snacks better. A cookie without milk, just no!
Points for consistency & routine. Take your wins where you can get them!
Good afternoon! Mine threw her favorite stuffed animal because she couldn't go ride in daddy's truck. She cannot find said stuffed animal, so we're having a meltdown with added panic attack...
Our kids dentist had screens on the ceiling above the chairs, playing constant cartoons. I asked him why he's never won a Nobel Peace prize.
Oh. When my eldest was this age, the only dentist that would see her required she be strapped down to a board. It was awful for both of us since they also wouldn’t allow me in the room to calm her. I could hear those screams down three hallways over elevator music being blasted through their sound system. We were both shook that day. And in case you’re wondering, you can always tell your child’s screams over that of others.
As someone with sensory issues, I have to ask, was your toddler trying to snuggle under your arms while you were wearing a sleeveless shirt? Because stubble always feels worse than longer hair or no hair. If not, I agree, your daughter was being ridiculous.
My child thinks it's fun to pluck my chest hair. Can anyone guess who doesn't have chest hair anymore?
Nope. I've worked in a retail pharmacy for 20+ years...all the birth control I needed.
The crazy thing is, believe it or not, when they're older and surly and going through their angsty teenage days, you'll actually *miss* this whimsical nonsense. With Littles, when it's bad it's SO bad but when their filled with joy and wonder? Well, that's equally magical & contagious.
Toddler logic is like trying to understand quantum physics and all you've got for context is a piece of string & a twig.
I am a nanny, and the three year old I was looking after wanted me to read her unicorn book for the umpteenth time; I said I would right after a bathroom break. As soon as I did, she started crying and sticking her little fingers under the door, and then slide the book into the bathroom. Two minutes is a very long time when you are three.
It's a lifetime it seems, and I thought GoodBoi has bad separation anxiety. Now both of them claw at the door...
Load More Replies...Parenting fail here. You are supposed to expand your bladder capacity before you have children. 😆
I had a friend in NJ (when I lived there) who was Mother to a girl under ten. Daughter would suddenly start screaming in a Store that she was being kidnapped and she doesn't know the lady! That phase went on for a while.
My daughter was screaming because I couldn't reach a flower on a tree and some woman came running over thinking I was kidnapping her! I pointed at my daughter then at myself and said what are the odds I could find a child that looks like a mini me to kidnap?
Load More Replies...What happens if you tell the police you'll help them look for the ReAl parents?
Toss up between those and peanut butter cookies lol. But they have to be soft and chewy....not hard like hockey pucks lol
Load More Replies...Oh I have had this happen. The one moment she stuck it on her play oven and it fell down, I knew the sky was about to fall quicker than that sticker...
Okay, TO BE FAIR, those kinda worlds are very difficult to make. You put one wrong feather on a Shaae and they’re suddenly unproportional! BAH.
You too?? We have a Keurig pod holder, she stacked the pods in it for us. We cheated the system...
Mine are teenagers now, but one of the biggest toddler melt-downs we had was over orange Smarties. He loved orange Smarties, they were the best flavour in the tube, so he emptied out all the Smarties and ate all the orange ones, and then had a tantrum because there were no orange ones left to eat. It was his 3rd birthday not long after, so I bought loads of Smarties and created a tube with nothing but orange ones in, just for him. He had a meltdown because there were no other colours to choose from. But he didn't want the other colours put back in the tube because then it wouldn't be a special orange tube. They're miniature illogical aliens really.
Just let her🤷♀️ It's not that big of a deal. She can just run the remote along the dogs body like a brush.
It is, because you teach them early what are toys and what are not. If you don't set boundaries with them while they are young, it will be harder to set boundaries with them when they get older.
Load More Replies...Mine had a meltdown because I wouldn't let GoodBoi sleep in her crib with her...Edit for clarity: GoodBoi is bigger than her crib.
“Just in case you were considering having chil—“ Nope! Never was, never will. My damn dog causes enough problems, thank you very much, and she doesn’t have thumbs and learned how not to poop herself at 6 weeks.
That's why it says "JUST IN CASE you were considering having children" 💀
Load More Replies...Love reading these because it reaffirms my decision to never ever ever have children
My adult baby sister was present for my second birth. That was all she needed to know. He’s now 22. She never changed her mind. But makes a damned good aunt.
Load More Replies...I heard a story about a kid that cried because the Golden Gate bridge was not gold. I’m kind of with him on that one.
lol this is literally just kids being kids. I find tantrums adorable. Like look at all that energy all that muster and bluster, a poor player on this stage called life.
Tantrums aren’t so adorable to frazzled parents who would break down in crying fits if it weren’t frowned upon.
Load More Replies...Are you childless or childfree? There's a big difference between those two. Childless means you want children but can't have them. Childfree means you made the decision to not have children because you don't want them.
Load More Replies...My sister had a tantrum the other day because she threw her spoon on the floor and wanted it back. Then she had another tantrum because I gave it back so she threw it on the floor again
“Just in case you were considering having chil—“ Nope! Never was, never will. My damn dog causes enough problems, thank you very much, and she doesn’t have thumbs and learned how not to poop herself at 6 weeks.
That's why it says "JUST IN CASE you were considering having children" 💀
Load More Replies...Love reading these because it reaffirms my decision to never ever ever have children
My adult baby sister was present for my second birth. That was all she needed to know. He’s now 22. She never changed her mind. But makes a damned good aunt.
Load More Replies...I heard a story about a kid that cried because the Golden Gate bridge was not gold. I’m kind of with him on that one.
lol this is literally just kids being kids. I find tantrums adorable. Like look at all that energy all that muster and bluster, a poor player on this stage called life.
Tantrums aren’t so adorable to frazzled parents who would break down in crying fits if it weren’t frowned upon.
Load More Replies...Are you childless or childfree? There's a big difference between those two. Childless means you want children but can't have them. Childfree means you made the decision to not have children because you don't want them.
Load More Replies...My sister had a tantrum the other day because she threw her spoon on the floor and wanted it back. Then she had another tantrum because I gave it back so she threw it on the floor again
