A Dad Shares His Potato Trick That Stopped His Toddler’s Tantrum

In my household, we are experiencing back-to-back terrible threes. The tantrums and screaming have been doing my head in.

But I hear I’m not the only mum going through this season. Some are going though it with their two-year olds, and others with their four-year-olds.

While we know that the tantrums are a way for our kids to communicate with us, it’s not pleasant to listen to or deal with every day.

One dad on Reddit was a bit over his three-year-old’s tantrums as well. The dad shared a tip, that helped calm his three-year-old when he had a meltdown.

“Today my three-year-old is just whining and complaining about everything,” a dad posted to Reddit. “From his lunch to having to clean the floor to the show his brother wanted to watch. So I told him that he needs to stop being so salty . . . and then it clicked.”

The dad decided to get the biggest potato in the pantry and gave it to his son.

“I told him that he needs to hold onto this until he changes his attitude. He’s too salty and when he’s calm and ready to say nice things he can put down the potato and join us again.”

Why a potato? The dad thought about the process of removing salt from a stew or soup – you add a potato to absorb the salt.

Surprisingly, getting his three-year-old to hold a potato worked.

“He thought it was so silly and his mood changed,” he wrote. “At first he was confused and wanted to put it down, but I told him that he will absolutely under no circumstances put the potato down until he’s in a better mood to compose himself.”

While it might sound a bit ridiculous, if it works, why not give it a go?