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Positive ways of dealing with bad behaviour

wombat68 by wombat68 Young Parent(April 2006) (rank 18th)

Have Some Rules and Apply them consistently
Establish simple rules and routines for your child. They need to know what they are allowed to do and what they are not allowed to do.  Routine and rules help children to make sense of their day and what is expected

of them.  They feel safer and more confident when there are rules and routines.
Start with a few "things we do and don't do." As they get older, involve them in the process and listen to their concerns and own suggestions for new rules and routines.
Nip bad behavior in the bud
Most people have to deal with bad behavior because they don’t pick up on the early signals that things are getting out of hand.  For example, not getting up to discipline a child when it is breaking one of the house rules.  It also means that starting the day early with a positive activity that the child enjoys is the best way to ensure that you have a good day.  Start every day with a walk to the playground and then some quality play together.  You will find that your child is much better behaved the rest of the day as a result.
Doing positive things with your child builds up points that you can cash in later, when you need to get something done.
Hint: Don’t put kids in front of the television as soon as they get up.  They’ll be a problem the rest of the day.
Learn to identify patterns in your child’s behavior
Parents must become good observers of their child’s behavior and of their own.  Being a good parent is often more about holding a mirror up to your own behavior than picking your child’s behavior to pieces.
If a child has a certain behavior that you would like to develop or change, observe carefully what events, actions or situations trigger the behavior.  Write it down in a diary.  Then watch to see what happens after the behavior, i.e., consequences or pay-offs.
E.g. Often parents spend many hours trying to discipline a child about staying in bed and going to sleep.  After many tears and yelling, the parent gives up and lets the child come and sit on the sofa in front of the television and fall asleep.  The tragedy is that after all that hard work and unpleasantness for parent and child, the child has learnt nothing other than, it can get what it wants if only it cries for long enough.  It would have been better to let them fall asleep on your lap from the very beginning!
By being able to distinguish clearly between the triggers and consequences, you may see a pattern that actually is the opposite to what you wanted to achieve. That rather than rewarding the child for doing the right thing, you are rewarding them for doing the wrong thing.
The first place to start after identifying the pattern is most often a change in your own responses and behaviors.

Wombat 

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ADVICE RATING
 (Worth a try) (Worth a try) (Worth a try) (Worth a try) (Worth a try) 4.28 (Worth a try) from 24 votes
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emmie
November 2007 | emmie
Re: Positive ways of dealing with bad behaviour

This is brilliant advice i always say do as you say and say what you mean

thanks for sharing

emz



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mommyofWHA
5.00 (Excellent) | August 2006 | mommyofWHA
bad behaviour
Consistency .. if you arent consistent with your kids then bad behaviour will rule! If you give them a warning then follow through with it .. no matter what .. and definately the things that trigger your childs behaviour is a big thing .. only you know your child and what will set them off!


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rkcrtbrown
August 2006 | rkcrtbrown
Very Enjoyable!
I really enjoyed your article. You had some great points especially, "holding up a mirror to our own behaviour and just observing your child's behaviour for triggers and payoffs.


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allyp
June 2006 | allyp
great article

That was a real good article



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rachelcook
4.47 (Good) | April 2006 | rachelcook
article
the content is great, we are going to increase member recognition, let me know if you want to change your username to skip bowman. with member recognition we are planning to make sure the author gets lots of promotion so you won't need to sign off :)


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      ClayCook
3.25 (Average) | April 2006 | ClayCook
Re: article
yes - it will be more obvious who wrote each article, what rank they have in the community, and also their avatar or picture.


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