Smartwatch System Helps Defuse Children's Temper Tantrums, Experts Say

Key TakeawaysA smartwatch might help parents better manage their kids’ tantrumsIt helped parents intervene within seconds of an oncoming tantrumOverall, tantrum length was cut in half among children wearing the smartwatch.TUESDAY, Dec. 16, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Parents can better defuse their kids’ temper tantrums with the help of AI-powered smartwatch monitoring, a new study says.Smartwatch alerts of an impending tantrum helped parents swoop in within seconds, cutting by more than half the duration of outbursts by young children, researchers reported Dec. 15 in JAMA Network Open."This study shows that even small, well-timed interventions can change the trajectory of a child's emotional dysregulation episode," said co-lead researcher Dr. Magdalena Romanowicz, a child psychiatrist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn."These moments give parents a chance to step in with supportive actions — moving closer, offering reassurance, labeling emotions and redirecting attention before a tantrum intensifies,” Romanowicz said in a news release.Worn by the child, the smartwatch detects stress signals like rising heart rate or changes in movement and sleep, researchers explained.These readings are sent to an AI-powered app on the parent’s smartphone, which analyzes them in real time and sends an alert when a tantrum appears about to start."A smartwatch may seem simple, but when it's backed by evidence-based treatments and advanced analytics, it becomes a lifeline for families trying to manage severe behavioral symptoms at home,” researcher Dr. Paul Croarkin, a Mayo Clinic child and adolescent psychiatrist, said in a news release.To test this system, researchers recruited 50 children ages 3 to 7 receiving Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) at the Mayo Clinic. The kids were undergoing this therapy due to behavior problems."Parent-Child Interaction Therapy is a gold standard type of psychological technique used by trained therapists and parents,” said Dr. Ruth Lynn Milanaik, director of the Neurodevelopmental Neonatal Follow-up program at Cohen Children's Medical Center in New Hyde Park, N.Y.“The trained therapist would observe the parent and child interacting together, usually through a one-way mirror, and then provide immediate advice to the parents on what they're doing that needs a different skill,” said Milanaik, who was not involved in the research.For the study, researchers assigned half of the children to wear the smartwatch, and the other half to continue their PCIT as usual.The smartwatch theoretically would give parents a better chance to use the skills they’d developed during PCIT, researchers said.Children wore the smartwatch about 75% of the time, showing that it is feasible to expect them to keep it on, the study said.Results showed that the smartwatch alerts helped parents intervene within four seconds of an impending tantrum.Kids wearing the smartwatch had tantrums that lasted about 10 minutes, compared to 22 minutes for those without the monitoring, researchers found.Overall, the odds of a tantrum lasting 15 minutes or more were 3.7 times lower among the kids being monitored using a smartwatch, the study found."We're seeing more children in crisis, and the severity is increasing,” researcher Dr. Julia Shekunov, medical director of the Mayo Clinic's Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Inpatient Unit, said in a news release. “This system gives parents tools they can use immediately, even outside the clinic, to help their child regain control."Temper tantrums are part of normal child development as kids figure out ways to manage their frustration, Milanaik said.“We've all heard of the ‘terrible twos.’ They're really the ‘tantruming twos,’ as a child learns to navigate a frustrating world,” she said.“At age 2, you do not have a lot of control. And so, when you want to have cookies for dinner and a parent says, 'Well, we're not going to have cookies for dinner,’ that's an opportunity to have a tantrum and to get yourself back together. That is normal and natural and is part of learning and discipline,” Milanaik said.In fact, Milanaik said that “a successfully navigated temper tantrum tends to strengthen the bond between parent and child.”It works like this: “A child has a temper tantrum. The parent says, ‘Oh, I ignored the temper tantrum, and I gave some positive alternatives, and my child listened to what I did and we were able to navigate this together,’ ” Milanaik said.“I want children to learn how to navigate a temper tantrum. I want parents to naturally learn to navigate a temper tantrum. I don't want anyone to feel that it is something that is abnormal and needs to be fixed,” Milanaik said. “It is just part of growing up.”This smartwatch system could prove helpful for parents managing children still throwing tantrums past their “terrible twos,” she added.“When children are older and they still have a lower frustration tolerance or when the tantrum becomes of a greater intensity or lasts much longer, this is when parents may be looking to get help from professionals,” Milanaik said.However, she expressed concern that the smartwatch/smartphone combo could promote helicopter parenting.“A child needs to learn how to deal with frustration on their own,” Milanaik said. “A parent may be watching the smartwatch and say, ‘Oh, my child's heart rate is increasing and I want to stave off this frustration and get in there and immediately intervene in each and every situation.’ ”In the long run, it may not be beneficial for the child "as they will not be able to actually manage their own frustration,” she explained. “They will be possibly reliant on a parent to intervene for them.”Researchers next plan to further refine the system’s accuracy, test it in larger groups and assess its long-term benefits.More informationThe Child Mind Institute has more on effective ways to handle tantrums.SOURCES: Mayo Clinic, news release, Dec. 15, 2025; JAMA Network Open, Dec. 15, 2025 .What This Means For YouParent-Child Interaction Therapy can help parents better manage their children’s tantrums, and technology might help predict tantrums..Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

Smartwatch System Helps Defuse Children's Temper Tantrums, Experts Say

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