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ListenBy Michele Meyer September 4, 2026
How AI smartwatches can predict and prevent childhood tantrums: Discover how Mayo Clinic technology helps caregivers anticipate outbursts and respond earlier.
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By Michele Meyer September 4, 2026
MOST TODDLERS MOVE BEYOND TANTRUMS BY THE TIME THEY’RE OUT OF DIAPERS—BUT NOT ALL.
About 4.5 million continue having intense and prolonged outbursts, says Magdalena Romanowicz, MD, PhD, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Her work is helping uncover how AI smartwatches can predict and prevent childhood tantrums and give caregivers tools to respond before an outburst escalates.
Autism, anxiety, trauma and ADHD may spark major meltdowns till age 7 or longer, she says. “Without intervention, children do not outgrow them,” she says. “When they’re small, their minds are disconnected from their bodies, and they cannot identify whether they’re sad, mad or frustrated. Emotional literacy must be developed.”
To help, for years she and other psychiatrists have coached caregivers in-office by using Parent–Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), in which a therapist observes through a one-way mirror and advises via an earpiece.
“Parents would often say, ‘Gosh, how nice it would be to have you in our ear when we go home,’” Romanowicz says. Their wish soon may become reality, thanks to the Mayo Clinic-developed AI-enhanced Smartwatch System. It can forecast human tornadoes—and offer escape routes by sending advice to apps on parents’ phones.
By measuring the child’s heart rate, sleep and movement via smartwatches they wear, the system can predict 70% of tantrums 20 to 30 minutes in advance.
A connected app alerts caregivers and offers evidence-based skills to keep parents calm and avoid brewing storms. They might be advised to move closer to the child, validate their feelings, selectively disregard minor attention-seeking and praise positive behavior, such as lowering their voice.
A 16-week study of the system showed it made tantrums significantly shorter—10.4 minutes rather than 22.1 minutes—when parents intervened early with such measures.
As reported in JAMA Network Open last December, a child’s behavior can change more slowly than parents thought. “They’d say their child went from 0 to 100, like a light switch, without warning,” Romanowicz says. “But the smartwatches show otherwise.”
The idea for Mayo Clinic’s Smartwatch System was born in 2023, when Romanowicz was guiding caregivers as they played with their children. Working in an adjacent office was Arjun P. Athreya, PhD, an electrical and computer engineer who develops AI tools for personalized medicine at Mayo Clinic. He overheard tantrums through the wall and later knocked on her door—not to complain, but to collaborate.
His curiosity and compassionate response were precisely why Mayo places engineers and physicians side by side. Together, the departments found a way to predict outbursts and warn parents.
The greatest signal of approaching tantrums is when a child’s heart rate ranges from 105-129 beats per minute over 10 minutes. Smartwatches continuously monitor the rate and are synchronized via Bluetooth to the parents’ mobiles, providing alerts when it happens.
Lengthy tantrums can have lasting repercussions.
“Left untreated, those children may develop mood or substance disorders and have lifelong disadvantages,” Romanowicz says. Nearly 1 in 5 American children has a mental, behavioral or emotional health disorder, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It’s a very significant issue,” Romanowicz says. “Parents may find it hard to get a babysitter or get their child into a desirable school or summer camp. They even may have to give up their job.”
But soon parents may have guidance in hand when most needed and sharply curtail tantrums.
“We’re in the research phase and are very careful to make sure this works before we start thinking about commercialization,” Romanowicz says. “But results from our randomized, controlled trial have been most promising. Even small but well-timed interventions can change the trajectory of a tantrum.”
Once the device is refined, Mayo Clinic plans to expand to large-scale clinical trials at multiple medical centers. The goal is to spare parents, clinicians and teachers from disruptive meltdowns in schools, homes and supermarket candy aisles.
Ultimately, Romanowicz says, “We want to empower parents. This device is a lifeline for families trying to handle severe behavioral symptoms on their own.” •
