My partner and I frequently talk about how awesome it would be to live in a cartoon world (sometimes). Honestly, there are moments when cartoon responses to real life situations would feel so right. Imagine someone says something really stupid: wouldn't it be sort of funny to wait a beat and smack them over the head with an over-sized mallet? I mean obviously, in real life, that would be a terrifying and tragic thing to do, but in a cartoon world everyone walks away unscathed. It is in this spirit that I like to imagine hilarious ways to respond to toddlers' tantrums. After all, toddlers are pretty much the closest thing we have to real life cartoon characters. Their personalities are big, they ignore all social rules and graces, and their heads and eyes are way out of proportion with the rest of their bodies.
In real life parenting world, any of these imagined responses would be horrible and possibly (read: probably) illegal, and would without a doubt only make a bad situation worse. So, you know, do not try these at home. Seriously. My wishful, cartoon-world way of thinking is in no way an endorsement for the following. The best way to respond to a toddler tantrum is with empathy and kindness and patience (and probably a treat of some kind) so don't take the following literally. Please.
That being said, the following responses would be hilarious in a cartoon world, not to mention probably a little bit cathartic. Raising your own beloved little cartoon character can be rough and, sometimes, amid the hostage negotiation strategies you necessarily employ to get everyone through a temper tantrum in one piece, you should go ahead and give yourself permission to daydream about the ways you'd really like to get through these extra-challenging scenarios: