Other common causes of temper tantrums include being hungry or tired. Children who have temper tantrums often have other problems like thumb sucking, head banging, bed wetting and problem sleeping. If these behaviors happen, or if your child has temper tantrums that last more than 15 minutes or occur three or more times a day at younger than 1 or older than 4, seek help from a family physician, psychologist, or marriage and family therapist. Sometimes temper tantrums in preschool children are the beginning of patterns that lead to children becoming increasingly disobedient, rebellious and aggressive as they grow older. Parents have difficulty controlling children's teasing, yelling, disobedience, whining.
Parents allow the child to get away with angry displays.
As children learn what they can get away with if they are encouraged to display temper tantrums, angry outbursts, etc., they become increasingly disobedient, rebellious and aggressive. More and more peers reject the child and parents tend to reject or avoid the child, too. The Misunderstood Emotion, writes about the pattern becoming circular and occurring hundreds of times each day. The child's aggression is rewarded when the attacker withdraws and the child learns to use tactics such as whining, yelling and temper tantrums. When other family members also use these methods, the problems increase.