Kids misbehave not to be bad. There are underlying reasons for those behavior issues. The Parent Herald has learned four main reasons why youngsters misbehave and included suggestions on how to manage them. Parents should know these reasons in order to guide their children's behavior and support them.
Children use their behaviors to communicate their wants, needs, emotions and feelings. Most of the time, they are telling something through the way they behave which they can't necessarily verbalize. When knowing what action to do in order to address misbehaviors, it can be very helpful to know the possible reasons for the behavior issues.
Children Want Attention
When children want the attention of their parents, misbehavior is oftentimes a perfect way of getting it. Many times, when parents are occupied like they visit their friends or talking to a friend on the telephone, children feel left behind. So what they do, they will throw tantrum, punch a sibling or whine just to get the attention they want.
The suggestion: Dr. Marie Hartwell-Walker, a psychologist and family counselor, said parents should do these things when dealing with attention-seeker children: give attention for right behavior; ignore negative behavior and praise positive behavior; be consistent; and repeat all till the kid gets it.
Unmet Needs
Most preschoolers and toddlers are not that good enough at communicating their needs so when they feel tired, ill or hungry, misbehavior often follows. As a result, they use their behaviors to communicate that they've had unmet needs.
The suggestion: Experts said parents can avoid this behavior by knowing and looking for their children's unmet needs. Parents can ask their kids how they're feeling and look for any clues that they might have unmet needs.
Children Want Power And Control
When behavior issues result from the attempt of a child to have control and power over a circumstance, a power struggle might follow. According to Education.com, power struggles commonly occurs during preschool years. During these years, children start to want power and control over some areas of their lives in order to feel independent and capable.
The suggestion: To prevent power struggles, Dr. Rudolph Dreikurs, a child psychiatrist, suggested giving the child choices. For example, when the child want to have breakfast, a parent can give the child choices of what they can eat "Do you like oatmeal, cold cereal or French toast?"
Children Are Testing Limits
When parents have set some rules and said the things that the kids should not do, children want to test if their parents are dangerous. They not test limitations in order to know what would be the consequences when they don't follow the rules.
The suggestion: To avoid this misbehavior, parents should set constraints and boundaries and be consistent on following through on them, the Lifehack has learned. In this way, children will gain self-esteem and adopt good values.
When parents know the reasons why their kids misbehave, they'll be more ready to select a disciplinary action that will lessen the misbehavior. Plus they can react with more efficient discipline actions when they learn why their children are misbehaving.
