How to Teach Your Young Child And Teen Self-Control

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By femwriter
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Teach Your Child Self-Control

When you teach your child self-control, you can start it early and continuously. Remember that a teenager will experience a difficult transition period sometime in life so it's better that he or she knows how to control his or her behavior early in life. It can be frustrating to parents and caregiver when kids melt down at home, in a restaurant, in a crowded street or store, and during family reunions. Kids can learn self-control if parents and caregivers will teach them how to respond to different situations.

Teaching your child the effective and positive ways about self-control will help him/her get along with other children. He or she will grow as a responsible and loving teenager who knows how to avoid trouble. When kids learn self-control effectively, they can make better decisions in life and know how to respond to very stressful situations in amazing ways that often give positive results.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Step 1

Show to your child that there are solutions to the problems in this life and emotional control is a good thing when dealing to any difficult situation. If you're in a very emotional situation and your kids are with you, you can still show that you're upset and sad but calmly tell them why you're in this kind of situation. If you think that they can help solve the problem then discuss with them the possible solutions. When you become a good role model yourself in the way you handle your own problems then there is a high chance that your child will learn self-control at an early age and apply it effectively in life.
Step 2

Prevent outbursts by distracting your infant with educational toys or other fun and learning activities. Infants and toddlers easily get frustrated by the things and activities they want to do. When parents try to stop them because they might get hurt by doing those things and activities then they show temper tantrums. When your child is below 2 years of age, he or she often responds with temper tantrums so be patient enough to calm him or her down when this happens. For 2-year-old kids, start to give a brief timeout in an assigned area like her small chair in the living area or any place where it's safe. This kind of training will teach your child the consequences for sudden outbursts. Your toddler will soon realize that it's better to be patient, take some time alone instead of throwing a tantrum. As a parent, you're probably spending a lot of time trying to figure out what your toddler says. Remember that it's also important that he or she understands what you also say so try to speak in clear and simple sentences.
Step 3

Improve your child's sense of self-control by giving time-outs. You can keep on using timeouts for a 3-6 year-old child. Be careful not to put a rule for a specific time limit. Once your child has calmed down then end the timeout immediately. Time-outs can effectively teach your child how to be patient. Make sure that your actions will clearly demonstrate that tantrums won't give them the major advantage and explain to your child why you had given the time-out. Don't give in through his/her cries of frustration so that you can show to your child that the tantrum that was displayed was unacceptable. Remember to praise your child's achievement for keeping his or her self-control during the time when he or she is upset, angry and frustrated.
Step 4

Let your child know that you will really do what you say. If you already had told your child that he is not allowed to watch TV after 8 o'clock in the evening because it's bed time then you must follow what you say. Even if your kid may plead, cry or even scream wishing that you'll give in then be firm with your decision.
Step 5

Encourage your child to understand about what's causing him/her to lose control. Help your kid to determine and examine the cause so that it's easier to find a solution and help improve his or her self-esteem. If you can talk this positively to your child then he/she will feel much more better and gain more trust from you. Your child may also disclose things to you that will bother him/her in the future. You also need to encourage your children to do something positive like cleaning their things just to make them busy when they are in a frustrating situation. This is a good way to allow the children 7-10 to cool off for a few minutes instead of having an instant outburst.
Step 6

Discipline your teen aging between 15-17 by removing some privileges to strengthen the importance of self-control. At this age range, an older teen is already capable in determining what is right and wrong. Your teen knows how to manage most of his or her thoughts and actions so it's advisable that parents need to be firm with their disciplinary plans. You can remove one of your teen' s privileges by taking away a personal entertainment access like his or her laptop. A teenager needs appropriate guidance from their parents so that he or she will avoid slamming the door or yelling out loud when he or she gets angry and upset. This is also the time that a teenager sneaks out from the house without parental permission so it's vital to calmly remind your teen to think about the consequences of his or her bad behavior.

Comments

iamwrite said

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on 11/1/2009 This is great advice for those challenging ages - toddlers and teens! 5*

tammyfrost said

on 10/31/2009 Wonderful information here on teaching kids! Great advice!

ourlastchance said

on 10/29/2009 Great information. I am a big fan of time outs to help with self-control. We also take away privileges as a consequence of loosing self-control. Thanks for the tips to teach young children and teens self-control.