Dealing with naughty kids can be very challenging, most especially for first-time moms and dads.
And as much as they love their little one, it can be annoying and downright frustrating to deal with an extremely naughty child day in and day out.
So how can parents handle a naughty child?
Use positive discipline
Of course, discipline is needed if you want to turn your naughty kid into a nice kid. However, shouting or yelling at you child won’t do the trick. What you need to do would be to use positive discipline in order to correct your child’s behavior.
At it’s core, positive discipline focuses on the message that “there are no bad children, just bad behavior.” This means that your naughty child isn’t a bad kid, it just means that their behavior needs to be corrected, and that’s what you need to focus on.
In positive discipline, you try to avoid calling your child a ‘bad girl’ or a ‘bad boy,’ and instead focus on trying to figure out what’s causing them to have bad behavior.
Teach, instead of punish
With positive discipline, you try to teach your child instead of punishing them. This means that while you still hold them responsible for their behavior, you’re focusing more on trying to correct what they did wrong, instead of just punishing them to make them scared or feel bad about what they did.
Teach them how to do things properly, and how to behave in certain situations. You can also help them deal with their feelings so that they don’t act out if they get frustrated over something, or if they don’t get what they want.
Use their misbehavior as opportunities for them to learn, and always encourage them to do better next time, and avoid those bad behaviors in the future.
Additionally, if your child makes a mistake, let them face the consequences instead of creating a punishment or ‘artificial’ consequence for them.
Be clear and consistent
It’s also important to set clear boundaries with your child, and be consistent with the rules that you set.
Don’t try and bend the rules just to accommodate your child, or to appease them if they get frustrated. It’s important for your kids to know why there are rules, and why it’s important for them to follow it.
Teaching them boundaries of what they can and can’t do is also important because kids just love finding loopholes and testing boundaries. Being firm and consistent can help give them structure, and would let them understand that in life, they need to play by the rules.
That way, your child can grow up to be disciplined adult, with a healthy respect for other people.
Source: afineparent.com
READ: 3 Words that will completely change how you discipline your child