Why? Because our children learn how to calm themselves down based upon the parents’ reactions to the child. And it’s not exactly what most people think about. You see, children are ALWAYS, and I mean ALWAYS, looking for attention from their parents. And when children don’t get it in a healthy way, they will look for it in any way they can find it. Even if the attention is negative. Our children crave one-on-one time WITH their parents.

Time when they feel LOVED and VALUED. When children feel unloved, unheard, and/or afraid, behavior is often unpredictable and seen by most as negative. So, most of the time, when our child is demonstrating negative behavior, instead of thinking our child is acting “bad” let’s try to pinpoint what exactly might be wrong. For example, have we been spending enough one-on-one time with our child, is our child hungry, sleepy, overly stimulated, etc.? Can we then help our child to meet that need? Other ways to help decrease behavior problems in children are to ensure that our children remain on a consistent schedule and can trust and depend on us as parents to meet their needs, both physical and emotional.

One last tip: remember that discipline must be followed through with. Please don’t threaten and then forget the punishment! If you say that your child has lost iPad time for 24 hours and then give it back after 30 minutes, you have done nothing but tell your child that what he or she did was not that serious. And trust me, the behavior will never stop. Not until you start getting serious about setting and sticking to your boundaries!