1. Understand the cause of the behaviour
Getting to the root of the issue will help you better understand why your child is being so difficult. Look for what may have triggered the behaviour and a potential pattern—it could be that they feel overwhelmed by a task, such as cleaning their room. In this instance, you could break the large task down into smaller tasks that seem more manageable for your little one.
2. Give your child room for good behaviour
Once you understand what can cause your child to become defiant, cater to those needs and set your child up for good behaviour. If your bub gets frustrated with change, be sure to make the transition as smooth as possible by allowing extra time for them to adjust.
3. Let your child know you understand them
Just like adults, children can have off days from normally good behaviour. Treat them with patience, love and understanding when they display defiant behaviour every now and then. It could be that your child is just having a bad day or is in a mood. Still be firm about what your little one needs to do, but speak with patience in a loving tone.
4. Compromise!
Knowing when to pick your battles is important for any parent. If your child is insisting they wear their favourite skirt out in the cooler weather, compromise by asking them to put some tights underneath. Meeting in the middle on the smaller stuff allows you more authority when it comes to the more important things.
5. Communicate the ground rules
Let your child know what is and isn’t acceptable behaviour, so they know what they must and must not do. Establishing these ground rules early ensures your child understands there will be consequences to their behaviour.
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