Are you encouraging bad behavior in your child?

Last Updated on March 20, 2022 by

Disciplining children is no mean feat. It takes hard work to not only control their behavior but one’s impulses too. 

However, much like anything, disciplining needs to have a method to it. The implications of lack of discipline are not only great for your child but for others as well. 

Furthermore, lack of appropriate disciplining might also cause children to hurt themselves, meriting then a visit to the Child specialist in Lahore. 

The lack of tethering might also make your child a social pariah, as frankly, no one wants to be around children that are not manageable. 

Mistakes that you might be making 

Even though you might be trying hard, you are still perplexed why your child is not acting politely enough. This might be because you are unintentionally promoting bad behavior in your child. Some common loopholes include:

Empty threats 

Children are smart. If they know that you are threatening them with something that you will not follow through with to begin with, they will continue the conduct as it offers no consequences. Even if you follow through once in a blue moon, it is still not deterrent enough, as you have yourself undermined your word. 

Therefore, if you threaten your child with something, you must always follow through with it. 

Inconsistent disciplining tactics 

If you are not consistent in implementing discipline, then you are giving your child the wrong signal. They then think they can get away with the behavior, or they take a wager of getting away with it. 

Instead, make sure that once you have established the rule, then you must always follow through with it. 

Laughing 

Your child said a swear word and you laughed because let’s be honest, it was funny. But it is not funny anymore when they say it in the school, or in front of a crowd, because swearing is bad. However, it is not the child’s fault, as you okayed it initially when you laughed at it. Similar is the case with pranks and other verbal forms of jabs and rude jokes.

Hence, it is important that you be always in control of your response. Do not approve of any misconduct by laughing or recounting.

Mixed signals

Often, parents themselves give into the child, reinforce their behavior, and then wonder why their child is acting that way. For example, when you concede to their tantrum, you are giving your child the signal that the tantrum is the gateway to get something.

While you might not always respond to their tantrums, but you doing it once or more times has already established the connection in your child’s mind. Hence, you need to be clear on what is unacceptable behavior, and never cave into their demands then.

Yelling  

It may be hard to keep your calm, but when you yell at your child, you are just offering temporary solution. In the long term, these will become ineffective, make your child rebellious and might also damage your relationship with them. 

Wrong precedent 

Children do not exist in a vacuum. They are carefully observing your behavior and are using it as a benchmark. They see their parents as the role model, and thus pick of their habits. So, you need to be careful how you interact around them. 

For example, if you make faces at vegetables, your child will also throw a tantrum when they are made to eat vegetables. While the implications are not so grave for your health, but as they provide children with nutrients imperative for their development, the impact on their health is great. 
Some children might even run into nutrient deficiency, that then requires the help of your Child specialist in Islamabad. This is just one way you influence your child’s behavior, there are plenty of other avenues on which you might be setting the wrong precedent.

Read More: 5 Ways To Make A Child’s Bedtime Easy