On tantrums

My toddlers throw tantrums. Lots of them, it seems. Some are justified, like when their sister steals their juice or when their brother uses their head as a bongo drum. Most of the time, though, they are completely uncalled for. At least from my perspective.

When a child asks for a muffin and gets a different piece than what he was pointing at, I have little sympathy for the kicking and screaming. When they ask for music and it takes me 10 seconds longer to turn it on than they wanted, there is even less pity. It is clear to me that they are missing the big picture, and getting themselves worked up over nothing.

So the question, as always, is how am I any different? I do less screaming, but I think mostly because it hurts my ears. Adults tend toward pouting, in general. When my promotion happens a year later than I think it should, do I turn bitter about my job (just pretend this is purely hypothetical)? If my car breaks down (due to lack of proactive maintenance on my part), do I shake my fist at fate?

My tantrums are generally not as loud as my kids, but I might be more prone to missing the big picture than I would like to think. Kids can be hard on the ego sometimes.