With a kid, who has no clue how anything works, more fool you if you assume an existence of any shred of empathy or humanity.
It would be interesting to see if you felt that after having kids. It would also be interesting to hear if any experienced parent thought this too. I personally couldn't disagree more. I'll come back to this.
Have always hoped to see a some sort of thread about bringing up kids on here I think... a problem shared etc, and my! can it be problematic at times. Had to laugh at the OP for the Watford game - having a son who's a Chelsea fan. Fuck that.
My son Sterling* is now 7 (Apr 01) and my daughter Mae is 4 in July. Both have their tantrums occassionally, and I'm very thankful that it is occassional. I think I'd be right in saying that every parent has experienced a complete meltdown in their children in public too... a supermarket or a party etc. People stop, and they stare, or they stop and move away... but you can tell in an instant who have or have had children, and those that have yet to experience the joy. I'd also be right in saying that everyone has seen a parent tugging and shouting at and pulling at and wagging fingers at a child who's melting incontrolably. That is NOT the way to do it. And of course, if a parent has resorted to giving their child a chocolate bar or some sort of other 'reward' if they calm down - then forget it, your life will be hell.
I'm not sure if we have an actual tactic to deal with a tantrum. It depends where and why, but we try to be calm. My son used to 'stomp' around the house when he used to have his tantrum. Waving both arms up and down the air screaming and stomping round the house... until one day, about 12 months back?... just as he was about to start his freak out... 'Oh hang on! We've got the Sterling Stomp coming!' I said, and I mimicked him - not in a mocking way, but in a fun way ... and I started stomping round the house waving my arms like John Cleese. My daughter joined in behind me... and before his tantrum had started, it had stopped. He started laughing through his tears and joined in along with Mae and myself. And ever since then... if one was brewing... I did the same thing and it always stopped them before it got going.
Every parent/child relationship is different. I've never read a book about parenting. But it felt a natural thing to do at that moment and it worked. Now his tantrums come out in a different manner, usually brought on because of fucking computers - but that's another story.
Before I go... both my children used to bite others DirtyH... when my daughter was still in a buggy she got bitten by another child while out shopping with her mum, and the teeth marks were still visible a good few hours later. Was quite glad I wasn't there. They didn't do it often, and if they did, it was usually pretty light... but one time at a party, it wasn't very light. It's a horrible thing - hugely embarrassing for me and his mother and you can't apologise enough to the child and their parents... we just calmly left the party and it was very quiet at home that night. He didn't do it again.
* No, not named after him.