How do you Deal With Challenging Behaviour?

Love, love and more love! Empathy and consistency are key, as is letting my child know that I listen to him and try to understand why he is behaving in a particular way. We also try to find solutions to challenging behaviour together, so that he is involved and feels validated. Also, I see myself as a role model so when I am upset, angry or frustrated, I don't hide these emotions from him but tell him how I am feeling and also discuss how I cope with them without hurting or upsetting other people. And I am very careful to apologise after doing anything that might have caused hurt!

by VerityG

Absolutely!

My children are aged 8, 13 and 15. I find that setting clear boundaries and expectations helps them know what is behaviour is or is not acceptable.

by thriftyfrugalfun

After the situation I've found it useful to talk about what has happened so that I can understand the trigger and we can discuss acceptable future behavior. Time out works for a tantrum as sometimes it just gives my some time to chill out and to calm himself. I see this as less of a punishment and just what he personally needs to calm himself down.

by helenonthesofa

Absolutely! I also use chill out time for my youngest son. We have an indoor tee pee that he will go and sit in when he needs to calm down.

I've found that yelling doesn't accomplish very much, so talking and helping them to understand the situation more. When I have yelled, all I have done is set the bar for the volume of the tantrum, and this doesn't help. Instead, I try to find a way to help my child calm down and then talk it through.

by dadof2