Thank you very much for sharing your story and all the great responses. My nearly 5 year old son sometimes has tantrums, too that start with him not being to exert his control. I tend to explain my reasoning to him - if his behavior continues I tend to give the consequence of taking away privileges. That often helps stop the tantrum very quickly. Another thing that we have noticed is that he tends to be more in tantrum mood if he has not eaten enough. He tends to eat a lot and thus sometimes it does not seem to be apparent that this could be the reason but often the tantrum subsides as soon as he has some more food.