You sit down in a sturdy chair or sofa (something stable that won't tip over), grab the kid between your knees facing outwards, cross his arms in front of him and wrap tightly with your arms. The idea is to immobilize his legs, arms, and hands, in a position where he can neither flail or bite. You have to hold your own head off to one side as far as possible to prevent the kid from bucking backwards and smashing the back of his head against your chin and teeth.
Then you just hold him tight and let him struggle until he's exhausted. Sometime at that point his energy is totally spent and he's ready to sleep. Then you can turn him around, get him to a rocking chair, hold him and rock him.
It takes some skill and practice, but it worked well for me once I got the hang of it. Nobody gets injured or brutalized, and after the kid is past his crisis he calms down and feels peaceful and protected.
You've got to realize that th kid is terrified by his own hysteria. He needs to feel you're in control, and you're protecting him. After a few rounds of this --- in my expoerience anyhow --- the tantrums go away, and the kid trusts you.
I like your solution - however, I’m not sure the current climate would allow a principal to do this. I am almost certain her parents would be screaming about such tactics - regardless of their effectiveness - being used on their child.
You are correct and that is the right thing to do. But there is no indication that this is a special ed school. Teachers and administrative staff are NOT allowed to touch children.
My pre-school mommy-and-me teacher called this “time-in” as opposed to “time-out”. I used it with my daughter’s tantrums when she was 5. She never did the “terrible twos”, so it was kind of a shock when she had her tantrum stage three years late, and got in trouble with the kindergarten teacher.
Excellent advice, Mrs. D.
You described the method very well, and I agree, it worked well for me, too, when I had a young child in throes of a temper tantrum.