Being a parent isn’t easy. There are not only a variety of things to think about, to worry about, but you also are going to need to cope with the behaviour of your child. Whether it is good or bad. Whilst you can enjoy the child’s behaviour when they are well behaved, how do you cope when things are going less than good?
Spend time with them on a regular basis
Sometimes, you can find that your children are misbehaving simply because they are looking for a bit of attention. It might sound counter-intuitive, but sometimes the answer to bad behaviour is to spend time with them. Play, chat, just focus on them. It might be enough to get their behaviour back on track.
Always make sure that they know the rules
In order for a child to behave properly, they are going to need to know what is expected from them. You, as the parent, needs to have a clear definition of the rules that apply to your home. However, the thing to get right here is to focus on the most important ones, otherwise you may end up overwhelming them and stopping them from understanding what they need to do.
Try and use positive reinforcement
If your child behaves in the way that you expect them to, then you need to show them that this is a good step in the right direction. Positive reinforcement is a great tool when it comes to managing your child’s behaviour, mainly because it shows them what happens when they do behave as well as remind and motivate them to do it again in the future.
Outline the consequences
As much as it makes sense to give your child positive reinforcement, you should also make sure that they understand the consequences for bad behaviour. The consequences should be realistic, something that you are going to follow through with and that are relative to the behaviour that has been exhibited. It is a good to make them time limited, as this will give you the chance to increase time if they do it again, or perhaps something long term such as doing chores to replace something that your child has destroyed.
Be the model that they need to inspire them
It is an age old saying that we should treat others as we wish to be treated, and the same applies to your child. You need to make sure that they understand what good behaviour is, by showing them. Speak to them how you would expect them to speak to you, albeit at times a little firmer and understand that the way you are, is going to have an impact on them.
As you can see, rather than being a lost cause, there are plenty of ways that you can ensure that your child’s behaviour is the best it can be. You just need to pay attention to the approaches that you take and how this has an impact on their behaviour.
2 of my grandsons can be handfuls and sometimes hard to manage. Thanks for the great tips.