How to Deal with Behavior Problems in Children

Many children are out of control and have attitude problems starting at a very young age, my 6 year old included. As the times change and we are told, it is a crime to punish our children by beating their butts the children of this generation are spinning out of control. It seemed to happen over night that my son began to think he was the boss and ruled the roost. And truth be told at first when he started school I thought it was just his way of showing that he was not a baby anymore and trying to be independent.

That cuteness wore off when one day he came home and demanded that he needs his dinner now and was not about to wait another minute for it. As I picked my jaw up off the floor and used every ounce of energy I had to keep from strangling him, I sat him down and explained that he was not the boss. I told him that he would eat his dinner with everyone else and that when dinner was done he would eat with the rest of us but not a minute before. Did this work? Absolutely Not. The boy then threw the biggest fit I have ever seen yelling, screaming, and running around as if someone had just tried to kill him.

So what do you do in a moment like that? I was off to scour the internet. My initial thoughts were boarding school, military school, and even catholic school. As my blood pressure began to settle back down and my anger at his behavior turned into concern, I began to search for things that I could do to help him. The first thing I came across a website telling me to take all his privileges away and make him earn them back one by one. This did not work; he learned to live without them.

Next, I found a progress chart that you give them stickers for good behavior to work towards something. This was not something I really wanted to try because I do not believe that a child should be rewarded for acting properly, but I gave it a shot. It did help but I soon realized that if he acted out a day and did not get a sticker it really did not concern him. He understood that he would get what he wanted eventually, it would just take a little longer. Long-term commitments were not working with him. We needed something on a day-to-day basis.

Finally, we tried a daily chart. If he behaved properly, did his schoolwork, and did what he is asked when he is asked he could pick a "prize" from a jar. The prizes were just slips of paper with an activity that he would perform the next day. These activities included choosing what we would have for dinner, what movie we would watch, what game we would play, and things of that nature. Although we are still working day to day on the long-term situation, this has proved to be the best short-term solution for us. Will it work for you and your child? I do not know, but do not give up because the solution is out there.