weekly fun-day – A parent who believed her toddler would never hit “terrible twos” says the shift came after she returned to full-time work. When her son’s tantrums escalated, she learned he was reacting not to her absence from the house, but to her mental distance—and a weekl
When her son sailed through his second birthday without the meltdowns friends warned about, she convinced herself she’d beaten the “terrible twos.” But as he turned 3 in August, tantrums showed up—just as confidently as her earlier optimism.
The change wasn’t just emotional. It started building after she went back to the office full-time last October. Her grandpa watched her son while she worked, and the household began to notice he wasn’t listening as well as before. His moods also took a dip.
Coming home each day to find him upset “broke” her. and by January she decided to quit her job and return home full time to be with him. Yet the pattern didn’t disappear. Even with more time at home. her son’s moods still “sour.” She says he refused to stop throwing toys and would have tantrums when he didn’t listen to requests.
What made it especially painful was how the familiar tools stopped working. Time-outs and incentives for good behavior—things that had been part of their usual playbook—weren’t easing the fights anymore.
The turning point came from a question she’d been missing: she sat down and asked what was wrong. Her son’s answers landed with force. He told her “I miss you,” and worse, “I want to see you.” She looked at him and couldn’t understand it—because she was right there.
As the same behaviors kept repeating and he kept giving the same answers, her realization came slowly but clearly. She was physically present, but not mentally. She would be cleaning, reading, or doing other tasks she thought were important, while her son needed her attention most.
“I wanted to be more present with him,” she says, which led to a non-negotiable: a weekly “fun-day.” To make it concrete, she created an activity jar filled with folded-up pieces of paper featuring special places and plans.
Each week, her son picks an activity from the jar. One day a week, they do the chosen fun together—off screens and centered on each other. She describes the shift as almost immediate. The “joyful little boy was back.” Tantrums became fewer, he listened again, and he looked visibly happy.
Over the last few months. she says they’ve spent days at the Georgia Aquarium learning about his favorite species. including sting rays. sharks. and a “brilliant red-and-orange octopus” that reminded him of The Octonauts. They rode on a trolley at the Atlanta Zoo to learn about big silverback gorillas.
Some of his favorite days are simpler in structure but rich in discovery: packing a lunch, having a picnic at a park, then exploring by hunting for unique rocks, learning about different trees, and seeing how many different animals they can find.
Their routine has also branched out. She says they’ve been painters at an art studio, engineers like his dad at the Atlanta Children’s Museum, and they even got to be firefighters for a day at the firehouse.
Meltdowns haven’t vanished completely. Like any toddler, he still has them. But she says she’s learned to give more grace, because simple things can be new things for a child who’s experiencing them for the first time. In her telling, both of them are “learning and growing together every day.”
The reason for the outbursts has changed. She says she rarely hears “I want to see you” as the meltdown trigger anymore. Instead, it’s more often “I’m hungry,” or it becomes a rebuttal when she tells him he can’t do or have something—and they’re working through that too.
With summer quickly approaching. she says she can’t wait to bring him to more places to explore and meet new friends. For now. she’s still learning what her child needs—but her conclusion is clear: once they figured out that weekly fun-days were the key to success. the terrible twos aren’t as terrible as she thought they would be.
terrible twos toddler tantrums parenting weekly fun-day activity jar Georgia Aquarium Atlanta Zoo Atlanta Children's Museum firehouse Atlanta