Dad shares a genius trick on how to get your kids to actually take deep breaths to calm down, and it works like a charm

HOW many of us have been told to “take a deep breath” to calm down when we’re upset about something?

The advice is always effective but can be difficult for children to understand.

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But one father came up with an ingenious way to get his kids to take deep breaths to calm themselves when they’re throwing a tantrum.

Ollie Best took to his TikTok page to share the hack, along with a video of himself enjoying a nice, sunny walk.

“So we all know that little ones get frustrated and have a nervous breakdown when they can’t express what they want or what they’re trying to say, and nothing – not even chocolate – is going to help them calm down,” he began .

“Breathing is really good for her to calm down.

“But sometimes when you ask her to just breathe it makes it worse.

“So I learned this new trick and I tried it last night and my god it worked.”

Ollie’s trick is that instead of asking his kids to breathe, he asks them, “Can you smell that?”

“You’ll immediately try to smell what you’re trying to smell,” he explained.

“They will breathe in deeply and breathe out slowly, saying, ‘I don’t know.’

“Do that three times – back to normal, like nothing happened.”

Once they’ve breathed and calmed down that way, “then you can talk to them about what they need,” Ollie concluded.

Other parents were quick to take to the comments section to praise Ollie for his trick, writing: “Why am I seeing this after my 1.5 year old son threw a tantrum on soft play and I’m too pregnant and I cried with him?

“Need this trick for the future.”

“That’s a great idea, I’ll try that,” added another.

“I will try that! I have four kids and will try anything lol,” commented another.