It is challenging to deal with a difficult child. Generally , a child does not just misbehave,there might be an underlying cause for it. Understanding the root cause of such behavioural patterns will help resolve such situations. As a parent or as a teacher , we should recognize what situations trigger such behavior and work towards handling them.
Here are the 5 useful tips to handle a difficult child.
1. Stay Calm: When the child is doing something naughty, take a quick moment to do these 3 things.
1. Stop yourself , breath calmly
2. Take a moment and
3. Respond wisely and logically to what they are doing without raising your tone high and not making it like an argument.
Make it like a loving conversation.
2. Show Love and Be Compassionate: Even though the child is difficult child, the child expects love and compassion from us.
Showing love helps in building emotional connection with the child and a beautiful bond is established with the child.
Ex: Hugging the child, kissing , sensible touch etc. will help the innocent child to establish the nurturing connection with the parent or teacher , as the case may be.
3. Positive Affirmations: We should always observe the positives in the difficult child and appreciate these very positive behavioral patterns of the child. This will not only help the child to be confident but also reinforce the child to implement such positive traits.
4. Get on to their level: This step is very important in handling a difficult child.
When the parent or teacher gets on to the child’s level, the child will feel comfortable open-up in expressing their feelings or emotions.
This helps in building good relationship between the parent and the child.
5. Connect with play and establish boundaries: Spend quality time with the child every day.While playing with the child and having fun, the parent or teacher must work towards establishing the ground rules and boundaries in a play way method.
Ex: If you are playing with a ball along with the child, we can explain the child :
- Where to stand and throw the ball
- Where he cannot cross the boundary line,
- How many points does he get in reaching the goal,
- How he can be safe while playing etc.and letting the child know that you love him and care for his safety.
With such guided grounding rules , the child now starts to understand and take your guiding rules and tries to follow them , thus establishing a pattern of listening to your instructions and suggestions in a playful manner.
In my experience as a teacher implementing the 5 tips mentioned above, helps both the parents and teacher in handling a difficult child.
You are welcome to innovate and nurture the innocence in your child during the very important growth and development phase of the child.
You may share your experiences and drop a message or comment should you need any further tips from my side
