Almost 5 Year Old Son with Severe Temper tantrums...time to Talk to the Dr?

My son is 3 and his started when he was 1 1/2. I couldn't have been more embarrassed when going anywhere because if he couldn't get his way he would clear a table. I tried so many things and at points it became easier just to give him his way. I feel a few events contributed but it was still unacceptable. And this is just what I did....I decided to make sure I stayed calm since I'm very impatient. And I became very consistent with my expectations and punishment. I started time out and believe me one night he got up 12 times. and I put him right back on the chair for his 2 minutes until he stayed there. Eventually they became less and less. He used more of his words to express himself and I finally got more normalcy :) Good Luck to you!!!

Is he having a blood sugar drop?

Google signs of hypoglycemia. I know when my dd get a blood sugar drop, she gets severely aggitated, angry. This started when she was 11.

Warning signs:

peeing the bed
waking in the middle of the night, cant fall back to sleep
migranes
shakey
vision problems
theres more....

I would speak to his doctor. He should be way over the fact that there's a new kid on the block now. I've seen some pretty violent tantrums out of my oldest, but when he started PreK this year, a child came into the class who topped anything anyone had ever seen. This kid does have some special needs and needed evaluating, to have an IEP,etc. I'm not saying that to scare you, but it was a real issue for this child and everyone in the class for almost a month, so it would have been much better for everyone if he and his family had been prepared before school. Whatever the reason, you need to get to the bottom of the tantrums so you can stop them for all of your sakes.

I am sure that with his tantrums he has a hard time expressing himself. I know in my area that EarlyOn Program is free and they come to you on your schedule.Not only will they come to you at your conveniene, they have all kind of experts that can evaluate your child and work with you and him on better ways to communicate if thera are concerns they are professionals that can help and hook you up with resources!

We sought help from our pediatrician for "rages" our daughter was having at 2, 3 and was still having at 4. HE referred us to a child psychologist and we took it from there and researched a ton on our own. We felt like her behavior was out of control, getting worse and we didn't know how to parent her. Thanks to what we know now she is doing so much better!

You say you have tried everything. Does that include emphasizing the positive aspects of his personality? Empathizing with whatever it is he wants that he can't have? Making sure that whatever his usual triggers are get minimized to the greatest extent possible?

If you wonder how in the world one would emphasize the positives and empathize without making his behavior worse, check out the lovely and practical book How to Talk So Kids Will Listen, and Listen So Kids Will Talk, by Faber and Mazlish.

If you've already tried those techniques, and he hasn't improved, then medical evaluation might be worthwhile. And here's one more angle that could be fruitful:

A very large and well-controlled British study a couple of years ago confirmed that not only several common food colors, but also the preservative sodium benzoate made hyper kids measurably more hyper. See a report here: http://www.consumerhealthreviews.com/articles/GeneralHeal... Or he may have other sensitivities/allergies that make him physically or mentally uncomfortable and hard to please. He might be sending out signals for help but have no real idea why, if he's just always at odds with his own body.

I have severe chemical sensitivities, and get both physical and emotional symptoms to exposures to perfumed toiletries, home cleaning products, fabric softeners and air "fresheners." In group testing situations, I have watched children go from contentedly coloring to bouncing off walls, screaming, crying, or being impossibly stubborn just minutes after having drops of some dilute solution squirted under their tongues.

It would be worth checking out. You can try sealing all suspicious products in plastic bags and using baking soda or vinegar for most cleaning for the next 2-3 weeks, and watch for any improvements in your son. If reintroducing the products (many of which are toxic, anyway) back into the home then results in worse behavior, you'll have a possible solution to work on.