All children behave badly at one point. This may manifest in their way of talking back to their parents or acting in an aggressive style. As a parent this behavior can be extremely frustrating, but it is important that they understand their kids behavior and use methods to correct it. Different children behave badly in a different manner, but the bottom line is that behavior is a result of response to the surrounding environment. If you come to know what is causing the child to react this way you will be able to live with him more harmoniously.
What is the developmental stage that your child is going through?
Small children are usually easily dealt with and it doesn’t take much to correct their behavior. However, when children enter adolescence, dramatic behavioral changes take place. When a child grows, he or she wants to be independent. They may express their feelings and difference of opinions very strongly. They may show their discontent and frustration over the existing rules of parents. Kids behavior in some cases may go to the extreme when kids start pulling away from the parents in order to establish their own identity. The entire process includes kids trying to experiment with their looks, their personality and behavior, and this becomes especially prominent if peer pressure is also there. Because most parents are not ready for this change, they don’t know how to deal or control this behavior and fights or arguments ensue.
How to deal with bad kids behavior?
There are many schools of thoughts on how to discipline a child. The significant part is that parents must match the disciplinary approach to the age of the child. This is because children tend to respond more readily to certain methods that are age appropriate than others. Here are a few steps that you should follow in order to understand kids behavior.
Understand your child’s brain development – This is one of the most crucial aspects for developing good behavioral skills. Your discipline will only be as effective as the developmental age of the child is.
- Under the age of two years, there’s not much discipline you can do. But you can focus on meeting the needs of your child, focus on providing him with safety and make him understand what is safe and what is not.
- From the age of two to six, you will be able to communicate more with your child. You may have to repeat things so that he remembers. Give them real life examples to make them understand few things that can’t be expressed in words. Encourage them to express themselves, and listen to them.
- From the age of six to twelve show them why a good routine is nice for health. Have consistent expectations. You can include them in family discussions. Give them some responsibilities of the house. Tell them that inappropriate kids behavior will yield consequences. Consequences such as losing TV or taking away video games are okay.
- Kids are developing physically and socially from the age of thirteen to eighteen. There are a lot of changes going on within the child. You should be consistent with the rules and consequences. Your children may already have an experience with consequences, so they will be more alert. If you are starting to look into implementing some discipline now, it is high time you seek a professional’s help because this is going to be very late in the game. However, don’t get discouraged as you still have the opportunity to change your kid’s behavior for better. Any positive influence will affect their future. Lessons learnt now as to how their actions and choices will affect their coming future and others too, will bring them long-term benefit.
Remain calm – Remaining calm and patient is the key to bring about positive change in kids behavior. Prepare to repeat yourself in front of small children, as they have to be reminded time and again.
Be an example to your kids – If you want your child to say “thank you” and “please”, then ensure that you are also speaking same words relevantly in all appropriate situations. If you want your child to stay calm even if the things have gone wrong, make sure that you are doing this yourself.
Kids are like sponges and they watch their surroundings with a lot of alertness. Unless you behave suitably, don’t expect kids behavior to become appropriate.
