Tantrum
A word often used when a child kicks off to get something. A meltdown is different: it is a loss of control, not a choice.
Applies across the UK
Every child has tantrums. A tantrum usually has a goal: the child wants something, keeps some control, and often checks whether anyone is watching. It tends to stop when the child gets the thing, or accepts they will not.
A meltdown Meltdown A full loss of control that happens when a child is completely overwhelmed. It is not naughtiness and it is not a tantrum: the child is not choosing it. Read the full definition of Meltdown looks similar from the outside and is a different thing. It is what happens when a child is overwhelmed, often by sensory overload Sensory overload Sensory overload is when sound, light, touch and busyness add up until a child's brain cannot take any more. It can end in a meltdown, a shutdown, or tears that seem to come from nowhere. Read the full definition of Sensory overload , anxiety or too many demands. The child is not choosing it and cannot simply stop, and offering a reward or a sanction does not reach it.
The word matters because it decides what adults do next. An incident written up as a tantrum invites a behaviour response. The same incident understood as a meltdown invites people to find and reduce what overwhelmed the child. If school, family or strangers call your child's meltdowns tantrums, this distinction is the one to explain.
Other words for this
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You might hear meltdown
When a child is overwhelmed rather than after something, the accurate word is meltdown, not tantrum. A meltdown is a loss of control, not a choice, so it needs the overwhelm reduced rather than the behaviour punished.
Related words
Where this comes from
- Meltdowns , National Autistic Society. Checked 2026-08-15.
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