Central Blurb

Advice for Dealing with Child Behaviour Problems

While there are many joys enforced in parenting, most parents find dealing with child behaviour problems a less enjoyable challenge.By trial and error parents learn how important it is to be consistent when dealing with child behavior problems. Not only is consistency important when handling child behaviour problems, following through, being firm and assigning consequences is crucial.
It is extremely important that both parents agree on a strategy to deal with bad child behavior. This involves both parents applying the same consequences to their children in a consistent way when bad child behavior occurs..
The best plan is for both parents to sit down with their children and outline the rules and expectations for good child behavior and make sure that the consequences for violating those rules is clearly understood by their children. it is important for both parents to decide and agree upon consequences that are reasonable for instances off bad child behavior, and then implement the consequences consistently.. Iit is important that children do not overhear parents arguing or disagreeing about ways of dealing with their children’s behavior problems.
This is because children will attempt to manipulate the situation to their advantage if they sense this agreement between their parents.. Children learn very quickly how to play one parent off against the other, and this should be avoided.
The best way to teach children about good child behavior is for parents to be good examples themselves.. Children learn values and beliefs by the example set to them by adults rather than by verbal instructions. Most learning is “caught rather than taught” which is why it is important for parents to be both in agreement about how they will deal with child behavior problems.

If parents get into the habit of dealing with their children’s bad behavior by screaming at them to be quiet, or spanking them for hitting, they will discover that such behavior is imitated and thought as “normal” by their children. When parents become angered by their children’s behavior and behave out of strong emotion it is being a hypocritical and will be ineffective in dealing with their children’s bad behavior
By deciding ahead of time what the appropriate parental response will be to bad child behavior, and then implementing it consistenly through child discipline, parents can avoid the situation. To avoid yelling or spanking, parents could use the “time out” technique and see effective results for example..

As the child matures, parents may find that previously effective ways of dealing with child behavior may not work. Some situations may require a different approach and so parents need to be sensitive to know when rules should be modified or abolished altogether, and when consequences need to be adjusted.