‘What’s the oddest thing you’ve seen a child have a tantrum over?’ – 23 impressively irrational kids spotted in the wild

It’s hard being a little kid. There’s a whole world of wonderful things to touch and chew and play with, and the big people who look after you won’t let you interact with most of it. It’s no wonder really that children both literally and figuratively throw their toys out of the pram for what appears to adults as the strangest of reasons.

They’ve been discussing this on the AskUK subreddit after user FoolishMythology asked ‘What’s the oddest thing you’ve seen a child have a tantrum over?’ and followed it up with their own experience:

The other week I saw a toddler have a tantrum in Aldi because his mum wouldn’t buy him a bottle of bleach, he was hugging it tight and she had to wrestle it off of him.

And lots of people chipped in with examples of kids being strange and angry little beings, like these…

1.

‘An hour ago my daughter threw a strop because she was complaining that it hurt when her doll’s pram went over her foot and I had the audacity to suggest that, as the person currently in control of the doll’s pram, she simply stop rolling it over her foot.’
–anonoaw

2.

‘One of my kids had a full on meltdown on the way to school because the sun had been following them for days. I had to explain to the school that my child needed the pastoral team to come visit him that day because my child was hyperventilating and sobbing at the same time over the sun.’
–Rootvegforrootbeer

3.

‘Mine once absolutely lost it during summer because his ‘shadow wouldn’t leave him alone’. I feel your pain.’
–Jenpot

4.

‘My son had this but with the moon. He was absolutely fuming that the moon had the audacity to ‘just always be wherever I’m walking’.’
–fivebyfive12

5.

‘A nephew threw an almighty tantrum in Aldi once because he wanted the ‘green banana crisps’. I genuinely didn’t have any idea what he meant so I couldn’t buy them.

Apparently he meant Pringles. The shape of them made them ‘banana crisps’.’
–jackster81

6.

‘While supervising my nephew brushing his teeth, the toothpaste fell of the brush before it got anywhere near his mouth, so I added some more on. He screamed and cried absolute blue murder saying you couldn’t put toothpaste on twice.’
–Tildatots

7.

‘Apparently when my parents brought my baby brother home from the hospital, I threw a massive strop, ‘Take him back! I didn’t want a boy – I wanted little Leanne-Marie!’.

I would’ve been two-and-a-half, but I stand by it, lad’s a complete git.’
–77Gaia

8.

‘A two-year-old version of my daughter once had a meltdown because I wouldn’t let her peel stomped in bubblegum off the pavement. Kicking, screaming, punching, and scratching me after I’d picked her off the floor and held her as I walked back to the car through a shopping precinct. Amazing that I didn’t drop her. Quite traumatic, but a strangely fond memory.’
–Jaraathe

9.

‘Mine had one when she was one because I wouldn’t let her run into traffic.’
–MattHatter1337

10.

‘My youngest was 3 or 4 and we were having steak for dinner (you know, that time we could afford it around 12 years ago) but I had no Stilton to go on top. We went to the Co-Op and went on the hunt. All I could find was Roquefort. Cue the biggest meltdown ever in the aisle.

A few people stopped me and asked me if she was alright and I explain the tantrum and as because they had no Stilton. Never felt so awkward but proud in my life.’
–melanie110

11.

‘My brother wouldn’t let my nephew have a can of Coke. I was trying to rationalise with my toddler nephew that he didn’t really want Coke because it can give you diabetes and you can lose your arms and legs and then you’ll just be a stump, and he screamed at the top of his lungs, ‘I WANT TO BE A STUMP!”
–sayleanenlarge

12.

‘One of my kids had a tantrum because I cut his cheese in half after he asked me to cut his cheese in half. Parenthood is an emotional rollercoaster.’
–Relative_Dimensions