Often children misbehave for a reason. It’s the job of parents to try and understand why children are displaying unwanted behaviour and provide strategies to try and prevent it before the behaviour takes place.

Reasons why children might be misbehaving may be due to hunger, tiredness, frustration, anxiety or attention seeking.

By identifying these you are halfway to being able to prevent the misbehaviour or to help children be able to deal with them in a more positive way.

As parents it is very easy to get wrapped up the negative points however by rewarding the children when they are playing nicely by going to play with them and give them the attention they are often craving means they will not associate having to misbehave to get our attention.  A good habit to get into telling your children what behaviour you want to see, for example “that was a great way you held my hand as we crossed the road”

When praising your children be specific, rather than “good girl” tell them why they were good, “Good girl you tidied up your toys” labelling the behaviour you want to see.

If you want to learn more about how to be a more positive parent please sign up to our **parenting and behaviour webinar**. It is aimed at parents of multiples between the age of 1-8  and looks at common behavioural problems and ways you can handle them. For details and dates please visit the Courses page.