Surviving mashups and meltdowns

Background image by Shawn Campbell

I am sitting at my computer, listening to my son play a few feet away from me. (Yes, I know I should be standing.) He is singing a brilliant mashup of "Frosty the Snowman," "Abracadabra," "Little Red Caboose," and "All I Want for Christmas Is You." (Trust me; it's brilliant.) He sings a few lines of one song, then moves seamlessly into the next. The problem comes during one of the Frosty bits. He is singing this:

Frosty the snowman knew the sun was hot that day. So he said something and something else before I melt away...

That would be my fault, as I didn't know the words, so I just sang "something and something else," in place of them and that's how he learned it. I have no excuse for not knowing the words: I have a smartphone and could have easily looked them up at any time.

So here's what we've learned: Don't be lazy. Look up the words to holiday songs.

But listening to my son's mashup reminded me that he sings in a way that is similar to his meltdowns (go with me on this):

• Just like I'm pretty sure he isn't aware that he is singing four different songs (he is more focused on the trucks), I'm fairly sure he can't recognize the signs leading up to his meltdown. That makes it my job to recognize and point out the signs to him.
• When he sings, he goes from one song to the next fluidly. When he has meltdowns, his emotions are also fluid - anger leads to tears leads to anger leads to tear leads to tiredness. 
• They are both better when I don't pay attention to them. If I praise him for singing, he usually stops. If I pay attention to his meltdowns, they usually last longer as most of the time they are his attempt at getting attention. 
• After both activities, he wants to snuggle afterward. I'm good with that. I can use the after-singing snuggle time to teach him the lyrics he doesn't know, and I can use the after-meltdown snuggle time to encourage him to use his words.

We are trying some new techniques to survive meltdowns in our home. What works for you?