Being a parent is incredibly rewarding. But raising a child means having to face the rough with the smooth – especially when your little one isn’t feeling like co-operating when you really, really would like them to.

Moms and dads have to learn quickly how to deal with their toddler’s occasional tantrum, because we all know how important it is to teach children discipline from an early age.

Sometimes, putting a stop to a little kid’s hissy fit is as simple as speaking a few well-chosen (and suitably harsh) words. Other times, it’s even simpler than that. One mamma elephant showed us exactly how to handle a toddler tantrum by pulling off a classic parenting move when her little one started playing up.

In the video, we can see an adorable elephant crossing a road into a grassy area. Though he looks like he’s nearing adulthood, he’s clearly still a long way from reaching his full size yet – or, as we find out, his full maturity.

Though the rest of his herd are moving on, this little elephant just wants to hang out in the grass. He plops onto the floor and starts doing his own thing.

The calf is so relaxed in his spot that he decides to have a good old bum-scratch on the ground. Hey, there’s no shame here – how else is he supposed to itch the back of his already-large body?

What we don’t realize until this point is that Mom isn’t too thrilled with her son stopping off for a casual scratch while she and the rest of the herd have got places to be. She heads over to figure out the hold up – and she probably isn’t best pleased to find her little one taking a spontaneous rest.

Mom wants her baby to catch up with the rest of the elephants, but the baby in question has other ideas. He isn’t happy about having to move on, so he does what kids do best – he throws a massive temper tantrum.

Not only does he stay exactly in the spot Mom wanted him to move from, he decides to lie down on his side for good measure. How many other people have kids who have quite literally got down on the floor during a tantrum to emphasize their stubbornness? This is exactly what’s going on here.

Even when a huge elephant crosses his path, the little one stays put in his tantrum spot.

Mom hasn’t got time for her son’s ridiculous antics. So she does what we’ve all done (when safe to do so) when our kids have been playing up: she pretends she’s walking off without him.

Don’t lie, all of us have said to our kids at least once,

“Alright, you can stay there, but I’m heading off now. Bye!”

It might add to a toddler’s frustration, until they realize that the world is a pretty scary place, and quickly get to their feet and scamper off after you.

This little elephant did exactly the same when he saw Mom heading off into the distance. Way to go, Mom!

The video has been viewed more than 10,000 times, though we’re not sure whether that’s down to Mom’s human-like parenting skills, or the undeniable adorableness of her little calf.

We personally think all moms and dads deserve medals for making it through the toddler tantrum stage! You can check out the comical video of this mom, who wasn’t having any of it, in the video below.

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Source: Animal Channel, YouTube, National Geographic