Children are lovable. They make their parents happy even with the simplest things, but there are times when you, as parents, do not understand why your children would misbehave. You would notice that your children would be more likely to misbehave when they are at home than when they are in public places.
You would wonder why but do not worry because this happens most of the time. Like adults, children have the same basic needs, such as love or belongingness, play, self-esteem, and acceptance.
While adults use critical thinking and reasoning to control behavior, children, on the other hand, use their emotions to show how they are feeling because they are not capable of thinking critically as adults do. In the end, adults tend to interpret these emotions as misbehaviors. Why then, do children misbehave?
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Why children misbehave
There are quite a few reasons why children misbehave. We have listed below the possible reasons why.
Seeking attention
Due to their dependence on adults, children seek attention all the time. Babies cry or make sounds to get their parents to notice them mainly because they are hungry or tired, but sometimes they only want their parents' full attention.
When children feel that they are not being attended to by their parents, they tend to misbehave because they know that this way, their parents would notice them, even if it means getting scolded.
Read also: Clingy Children with Teachers Cause: Difficult Relationship with Mother
Testing boundaries
Parents set rules and boundaries for children and the consequences of breaking them. Children sometimes want to test how serious the result once they break the rules. Occasionally, we tend to forget to deliver the consequences that we have set and end up rewarding the children to change their misbehavior.
Learned from others
Children watch everything around them, and they try to imitate whenever they can. They watch families, friends, and even cartoons, consciously or unconsciously doing what they see. Some cartoons or TV shows would be rude to others so they could pick that behavior. Other times, they see their friends or other children get what they want after crying, so they choose to behave the same way.
Unable to control emotions
Sometimes, when children are having difficulty solving problems, they tend to bring out their disappointments by misbehaving. Some children become hyper when there are many guests and kids, so they tend to say inappropriate things. Other times, they tend to say mean words without meaning them because they are troubled and have a hard time controlling their emotions.
Showing independence
As the children are growing up, they gain new knowledge and skills that they would want to show off. Frequently, thinking for themselves makes them more argumentative, thereby looking like they are showing misbehavior.
Mental health issues
Mental health issues could sometimes be the reason why your children are having behavioral problems. ADHD is one of them. Some children are experiencing anxiety or depression, so they misbehave and would not want to go to school because they get anxious.
