Praise your child
"Whenever my daughter is crying for no particular reason, I try to find something to praise her for. It can be anything like reaching for a tissue or taking a deep breath to try to calm herself down. She then can't help but smile and we can carry on with our day."
Sammy

"When my son's a bit quiet and out of sorts, I remind him of something he's done well recently. Last time I told him how much I loved the painting he'd done the previous day. We stood and looked at it pinned on the wall and I encouraged him to do another one. He was soon so involved in his artwork that the bad mood was forgotten."
Ellie
Dance it out
"Who can be in a grump when they're dancing? Whenever my toddler starts getting grouchy, I turn the radio up loud and start freestyling. He soon gets the giggles and joins in."
Julie

"My daughter is a big fan of Cheryl Cole. If she's a bit grumpy, I put Cheryl's album on and encourage her to have a dance. We have our own little routine for a few of the songs and we're soon exhausted from laughing."
Vicky
Get some exercise
"It took me a while to realise that my child was often in a bad mood when he was feeling frustrated. Encouraging him to run around outside for a little while made him feel much more like himself."
Lucy

"My daughter used to have really bad moodswings. As soon as I introduced weekly swimming lessons and trips to the park she really cheered up. She's much more content day-to-day. The wonder of exercise!"
Anna
Stop and listen to your child
"When my son is feeling upset, sometimes all he needs is for me to listen to him. I stop what I'm doing, sit down with him on my lap and ask him what's wrong. The one-to-one time reassures him that everything's going to be just fine."
Izzy

"I used to try to find a quick fix as soon as my daughter started crying. I now realise it’s more helpful to take the time out to get to the root of the problem. If she's not ready to talk about it, I give her lots of attention to let her know I'm there for her whenever she is ready."
Sally
Go out and meet people
"My son is always happiest when he's surrounded by a group of family and friends. I think it's because he enjoys the attention of people he knows and loves. If he seems miserable I try to organise a play-date or visit my parents and that always seems to perk him up."
Helen

"Sometimes my daughter gets fed up of just my company, so we go to coffee mornings and to the park as often as we can. I love that she's learning the joy of interacting with lots of different types of people at such a young age."
Roxie
Use your imagination
"My daughter loves the game we play where I pretend to make her into a pizza. I pick her up and knead the dough, which is really just tickling. I sprinkle her with make-believe cheese, pepperoni and peppers and then pick her up and plop her in the oven, otherwise known as the sofa. And that's the end of her bad mood!"
Laura

"My little boy loves playing with his toy garage. If he's stroppy about something I'll set it up and drive a toy car up to the garage shouting, "Help, help there's something wrong with my car". He can never resist coming over to 'fix it' and before we know it we're having a lovely time together."
Louise
Get some fresh air
"In the car is where my son gets most moody. I've found that just opening a window does wonders. The cool breeze calms everyone down and makes the rest of the journey less stressful."
Lauren

"When my daughter's in the middle of a meltdown at home, I'll take her hand and lead her to the back door where we'll stand and take deep breaths together. We blow all the 'bad' air out of our bodies and go inside feeling much better."