Manage Your Own Storm

In public you are suddenly running two nervous systems — your child's and your own. The audience does not make the tantrum bigger; it makes your shame bigger, and a flooded parent cannot calm a flooded child.

So the real skill is regulating yourself first. Plant your feet. Take one slow breath before you speak. Let your face go neutral instead of panicked.

And drop the performance. Do not threaten, bribe, or stage "competent parent" for the watchers. Your child needs the real you, not a show for strangers.