What are the best ways to discipline behavior of a toddler?

While children are always very cute and playful and a great source of amusement for adults primarily because of their innocence, disciplining them is a very important part of the child’s growth cycle and will stand him or her in good stead in the future. Children tend to develop a number of behavioral flaws if allowed to freely develop their own character without correction. Some of these behavioral problems include chining, hitting, biting, tantrums, sibling rivalry and a general lack of discipline. In most cases, almost all of these problems will stem with the child feeling that they are not receiving the kind of attention they deserve. Some other cases may also see the problems caused as a result of feelings of abandonment such as in the case of the death of a parent of loss of a cherished toy.

Whining is one of the most common behavioral problems that a child develops and is regularly used when they want something. This is a very tricky situation as caving in to their request will be taken as a sign that as long as they continuously whine for something they desire, chances are that the parents will give it to them. As a result, it is important to identify a common ground, analyzing how necessary it is to give a child something they want before actually giving it to them.  Before a child develops any significant social skills, it will use the method of touch to gain attention and communicate. When two children are together, they will regularly communicate through this method. However, some children may tend to become overly aggressive and start to hit their opposite number. There is a tendency of children seeing things solely from their point of view and will automatically assume that if they are enjoying the exercise of hitting another child, it is obvious that the other child enjoys it to.  Throwing tantrums is a very common method that most children will use in order to get attention that they believe is lacking. In all of these problems as well as the countless others that they are likely to suffer from, it is important to continuously insist on the child not having their own way all the time. With regards to hitting, one must frequently educate the child on what is and isn’t acceptable behavior. Corporal punishment should be avoided at all costs primarily because of its inhumane nature aided by the fact that telling a child that nobody likes to be hit and then actually hitting the child to prove your point is a very contradictory message

Submitted by P T on March 24, 2010 at 01:01

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