Parents' Effect on Child Behavior
Children are learning everything about the world they live in from a fresh perspective, including their behaviors. Children's behaviors aren't just the result of their individual personalities or temperaments. Children learn their behaviors. Children must learn which behaviors not to engage in and which ones to replace them with.
-
Modeling
-
Parents model behavior for their children. Children watch the way parents behave and imitate them. This begins early in the child's life. Small children, for instance, like to play house, play school and practice other adult behaviors like cooking with their toys. The same hold true of other behaviors, such as problem behaviors like yelling. If parents regularly raise their voices in the household, children will think the behavior is acceptable.
Regulating Behavior
-
One of the most important things parents can do to effectively regulate the behavior of their children, according to AllPsych Online, is to set clear expectations and communicate clearly to the child. Parents should go into any situation in which they are correcting their children's behavior with a plan. Children need to understand why the behavior was wrong, not just that they shouldn't do it. Children also need clearly communicated expectations. They need to know what behavior they should engage in instead. If children don't know why what they did was wrong or how to change the behavior, they won't likely to respond to parental advisement.
Positive Reinforcement
-
When children are rewarded for what they do right, it is called positive reinforcement. Once expectations are clearly identified and children start to behave in the new, more appropriate way, it is important to reward them. According to KidsMakingChange.com, parents can stock up on small rewards such as stickers or balloons. When you "catch" your child performing the correct behavior reward them with these tokens. When kids receive positive reinforcement, it helps cement the desired behavior.
Discipline
-
It is important not to lose your temper when disciplining. If you are trying to teach children a lesson about appropriate behavior, it will violate their understanding of the situation if you behave inappropriately. Getting angry also makes clear communication more difficult. Make sure that discipline is appropriate for the offense and consistent, according to the Kids Health website. If you usually punish the child for drawing on the floor by putting him in the corner, for instance, you shouldn't spank him one day when you're in a bad mood. Inconsistent discipline leads to repeated problem behaviors.
Considerations
-
While parenting greatly affects the behavior of children, some behavior problems may be a sign of more serious problems. If children are behaving very irregularly, you should visit the doctor. Unfortunately, some behavior problems are the result of child abuse or neglect. Children may react to parental abuse by acting out themselves. This is another reason it is important to notice behavioral irregularities in the children in your life.
-
-
Children are exposed to violence in almost every facet of their lives, from cartoons to television news. Even protective parents cannot shield their children from the violence that pervades the media. The concern is how all the violence children witn
-
Many children go through a time period in which they bite. They may bite toys, other children or their parents due to teething pain or due to aggression. While having a biting child can cause difficulty in the family, dealing with the issue appropria
-
From the time children are born, they are quickly learning to solve lifes little problems. But dont let their innocence fool you. Children are smart and able-bodied creatures. Whether its figuring out how to get mom out of bed in the middle of the ni
