Home And Family

There are so many tips out there that promise to stop your children’s bad behavior, stop the hitting, and teach them to be more respectful, that sometimes it is difficult to decide which ones to follow. Children that misbehave are not fun, and neither is being embarrassed in stores, restaurants, and parks. This often happens when your child is behaving badly. Changing their behavior doesn’t come without a lot of hard work.

Two of my favorite tips that can help you fix your children’s bad behavior some people will tell you are just “common sense”. But if this is so, why don’t more people use them. Sadly a lot of people who know them don’t recognize the fact they aren’t even using them.

So what are these tips?

• Have a clear set of rules and consequences. Write them down and display them in some very obvious places in the house where everyone can see them. Make sure your kids understand each rule and what will happen if they don’t follow it. Make sure the consequence follows the rule. For example, one of your rules may be to not throw balls in the house. As a consequence take the ball away for a specified period of time such as a half an hour.
• Make sure you are consistent with the rules. Often a parent will pick and choose the times when they follow the rules and when they won’t, or what they will use for a consequence. The problem with this is that a child will become confused and, frankly, in their confusion will continue to misbehave.

If the rules and consequences are clear and are posted where everyone can see them; and if they are followed consistently it will go a long way in improving your child’s behavior.

Initially it may appear that these tips aren’t working; in fact, the behavior may get worse. This is because your child will fight back; he is used to getting his way. But if you are consistent he will eventually comply and things will turn around. Remember this; it takes 3 weeks to change a habit. It may also take 3 weeks before you see improvement as your child learns to change her behavior.

My wife and I spent a lot of time looking for answers to our child’s bad behavior. We searched everywhere. We knew it was time to resolve the problem and nothing we had tried had worked. We bought several programs and took courses, but spending all this money didn’t help at all. We realized that no one was going to do it for us; it was up to us.

We follow these suggested tips on a regular basis and we have found that when we are consistent things will run smoothly. Sometimes we forget and break the rules ourselves. This generally happens when we are exhausted or distracted and then our son gets his way. When this occurs we need to get right back on track. Each time it seems like we have taken a step backwards as he gets a taste of the way it used to be. The faster we get back into using these tips the faster he starts behaving again.