Yes, we had a doozy the other night. That tends to be the pattern with The Boy – really great for long periods of time, but when we have meltdowns, they are of the knock-down-drag-out variety.
And yet again, I don’t know that what happened the other night could be classified as a meltdown, but it sure left all of us reeling, and thankful it was over in the aftermath.
It started when The Boy’s netbook froze, and in his terms was “broken”, and couldn’t be fixed. He would not allow me to look at it (go figure), even though I knew it was probably a quick fix. He moaned about his computer for quite awhile, continuing to get ramped up. Then he apparently attempted to facetime Grammy, and was unsuccessful, so he threw his iPad…
Yup. Threw it.
The screen already had a hairline fracture from when he accidentally dropped a piece of fiestaware on it several months ago. This latest assault was much more aggressive, and caused MUCH more damage. To the point I had to hide it, because I didn’t want The Boy to get hurt from the glass shards… Bleh. When it happened, he began wailing and screaming, as if his best friend had died.
Needless to say this went on for yet another while (past bedtime), and for many hours, we went through the cycle of me desperately trying to calm him down, getting him calm and leaving the room, and then hearing wailing again after 15 minutes or so. We were doing this until after midnight.
It was important not to get upset with him for breaking it. The last thing he would want to do in the world is break his iPad, so he clearly didn’t understand what would happen if he threw it (or didn’t realize through his haze of anxiety and anger until it was too late). The iPad being damaged and out of commission for the time being is consequence enough. I don’t need to throw my disappointment and additional punishment on top of that.
He is a much happier camper now, as I have given him a clear timeline on how we are going to solve the problem, and have been repeating it to him consistently. It will take a few days for Mom to do research about the details of getting it fixed, no one is throwing it away (he is very scared of this), and then we will make some decisions about how we are going to go about it. He will be working to pay for at least half of the repair, and I have told him that, as well. Never hurts to throw in a lesson about the value of a dollar. 😉
I’m glad he’s feeling better, because my heart hurt for him the other night.
Simple. I Just Do. 
This is a topic we are well versed in. Very similarly, Jeffery will have “meltdowns” when he is frustrated or disappointed and because he has difficulty communicating his feelings he sometimes displays them. I think you handled this one brilliantly. It is difficult to not react to these moments in such a way that it adds to the problem instead of helping to alleviate it. I’m actually surprised that something like this hasn’t happened with Jeffery yet. His IPad is his constant companion and it would be devastating for him if something were to happen to it. That is a problem with IPads, you can buy many different protective cases for them but they will not protect against a frontal glass impact. We use the Trident Kraken case and it has proven to be extremely durable…much better than the Otter Box that was originally used. He found a way to remove that one twice, damaging the front case in both instances. The trident one is very difficult for him to remove, comes with a screen protector built in, and more importantly cost less than the Otter Box. Not meaning to sound like an advertorial but it has been great for Jeffery and maybe has helped to avoid an issue. We send our best to both you and your family. Your “Boy” is a very fortunate young man.
Aww, thanks! We’ll definitely look into the trident! After we find the money to fix it first…