Calming an Impulsive Child

Ten to 20 percent of children are born with high impulsiveness and/or sensitivity to sensory stimulation, reports Child Care Center. Parents of impulsive children may find it difficult to deal with them and resort to some strategies such as spanking, which may harm the child physically and emotionally. Use other strategies with more positive outcomes to ensure an impulsive child develops healthy behavior.

  1. Mirroring

    • Children may sometimes behave impulsively, because that is how their parents react to stress. According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children, nerve cells, known as mirror neurons, make people involuntarily copy the feelings and expressions of people they are around. This implies that parents can teach impulsive children how to respond to stressful situations by setting a good example with their own conduct.

    Reward

    • Sometimes, parents may not be able to calm impulsive children by using words. However, the parent could reward the child when he or she behaves well to reinforce positive behavior. AskDrSears.com states that the reward principle works well. When you use external rewards such as gifts, the child behaves positively to benefit from its pleasure. However, doing this often will not encourage the child's inner motivation. Instead, you should use social rewards, such as doing fun things together, to reinforce positive behavior and teach family values.

    Self-Control

    • Self-control helps children respond to stressful situations in healthy and socially acceptable ways. For children under two-years-old, website KidsHealth advises parents to use toys as a means of distracting them from their anger. Children above age nine are able to understand the concept of consequences. You can help children at this age learn self-control by withdrawing some privileges when they exhibit undesirable behavior. You can also encourage children to think about what is making them angry and have them talk about it.

    Time-Outs

    • Time-outs help children who have misbehaved to reflect on their actions and focus on behaving better. AskDrSears.com recommends that parents introduce time-outs when the child is 18-months old. The ideal location for a timeout is any place that removes the child from the spot where he misbehaved. Time-outs are also useful to parents as they also give them the chance to calm down.

    • As infants, many children start sucking their thumb as a way to comfort themselves. Unfortunately the thumb-sucking often becomes a habit that continues on into older childhood during times of boredom or anxiety. According to WebMD.com, if a child is
    • Children experiencing sudden anger and aggression problems do not need to suffer with their negative emotions. Parents need to attempt to find the root of the anger, and help children find appropriate and healthy ways to deal with their feelings. Whe
    • Though the concept of sharing items may seem obvious to parents, children may struggle when it comes to understanding another childs boundaries. Left unchecked, a child may continue taking toys from others while the victims are left feeling angry and