We have all been there.
Trying to get your essentials in the supermarket and your little one is making demands. You're stressed and just want to get what you need and get out of there.
But then your child has different ideas and before you know it they are creating hell, shouting, screaming crying, demanding and stamping feet.
You're trying to stay cool whilst urging your little person to calm down, whilst other shoppers stare, pretend not to notice or shake their head in disgust.
It's about survival - so you cave in and give them whatever it was they kicked -off about in the first place.
But according to child behaviour expert, Elizabeth O'Shea from Parent 4 Success, this would be the biggest mistake a mum or dad could make in this situation.
Speaking to Mirror Mums during a Facebook Live, Elizabeth, a mum-of-four, explained: "If they have a tantrum, you have to say 'Oh what a shame, we might have been able to get that but now you've had a tantrum we can't do it, just in case that's the way you think you can get what you want'.
"Never, never give them what they want. If you give in, you are feeding that tantrum and it will happen again next time as the child thinks I just need to escalate my behaviour and make it worse and worse until mummy gives me what I want - not a good lesson."
Elizabeth says staying calm, no matter how your child is behaving, is key. She added: "When everybody is watching, that is the hardest time to stay calm as it's just so embarrassing, so preventing a tantrum would be much better than dealing with it.
"If you know your child tends to have tantrums, talk to them beforehand say 'We're gonna go to the shops later when we go what will you need to do? How will you remember to stay close to the trolley? If you pass the sweets what's the rule? So will we be buying sweets? No, that's right. If you're really good in the supermarket what can you eat on the way home?'
"So you preempt it and just before you enter the supermarket, spend half a minute just doing it again, then when they're in there that's going to be in the front of their mind so they're less likely to have a tantrum.
"But just say you have your child in the sweet aisle, lying down crying, in that moment, stay calm and empathise, saying 'You would really love to get some sweets, it's so hard not getting sweets today, I get that'.
"Keep going for a couple of minutes, even up to two minutes, then just sit by your child. Don't walk off, because all that means is 'I can't deal with your bad behaviour' and the child thinks that you're not there for them.
"They'll get up and they'll follow you but they won't learn the lesson, which is that I can help you calm down here then we will carry on the shopping but don't give them what they wanted."
Elizabeth is a parenting coach, author, speaker, child behavioural expert and the director of Parent 4 Success, which she set up eight years ago.
She is considered to be one of the leading parenting specialists in the UK and regularly appears on TV and Radio.
She has previously been on BBC Breakfast, Radio 4's Woman's Hour and Sky News.
Elizabeth offers busy parents bespoke parenting courses using tried and tested effective methods, face-to-face or online.
All of her courses are accredited by ‘Can Parent’ (which is like OFSTED for Parenting Courses.)
For more information on courses available, you can visit https://www.parent4success.com/
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