Questions tagged [behavior]
Why do children act the way they do? Use [discipline] for questions about enforcing your rules.
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How can we discipline a strong-willed, misbehaving 5 year-old?
My 5 year old son receives and fears punishment but repeatedly exhibits the same unacceptable behaviors. He's always been strong-willed, and is usually the kind to view a statement like "Don't do ...
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Should I really be insisting that my daughter finish eating her meal?
Like many young children, my 4.5 year old daughter will often stop eating her supper (6 PMish - she has breakfast and lunch at daycare) and say she's not hungry. My instinctive initial response is to ...
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What to do when my 3-year-old holds poop in and won't go in diaper or on potty?
My son is almost 3 (33 months) and for the past few months, he has been holding his poop in, to the point that he won't go for many days a time. When this started, the doctor advised us to give him ...
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How do you feed a picky eater?
Dinner with my 5-year-old is an ordeal. I do not want to cook separate meals. How do I stop the fighting at dinner and get them to eat?
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My 5 year- old daughter is constantly defiant!
My 5-year old daughter is very defiant.
It started getting bad about 6 months ago. She doesn't do what she is told, and any time she hears the word "no" she throws terrible, dramatic fits, screaming ...
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Is bribing children with cash incentives a good idea?
I pay my 5.5-year-old $1 if she sleeps in her own bed and take $1 in rent when she sleeps in our bed.
I've also taken to offering her $1 to pick up her 2.5-year-old brother's Lego messes.
Good or ...
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My son is 5 years old and sexually active
I am a 20 year old female student and I have a 5 year old son who is really sexually active. For instance, he kisses girls by force, he forces them to lick his penis, he "fingers" them, he speaks ...
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Why is trying to talk children out of how they feel a bad idea?
The article 7 Parenting Essentials says,
Accept your children’s feelings.
...
Instead, comfort your children and let them know you love them, rather than try to talk them out of how they ...
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What are some suggestions for punishing a child? [closed]
My daughters are clearly pushing the boundaries lately. They are trying to find out what is possible. I am really looking into ways to setting the boundaries. A friend recently suggested creating a ...
user35
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How do you handle poor behavior by other people's children?
I believe that interacting with a variety of other children at social functions is an important part of childhood development. However, there seem to be a lot of children who are... how shall I ...
user420
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How do you operate a successful "Star Chart"?
So, one of the techniques for improving behaviour that you often hear about is the "star chart". You put the focus on good behaviour by adding stars (I nearly said "badges") for the good stuff and ...
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Suggestions for a 5 year old who can't sit still in her chair?
I have a 5 year old daughter and she has a real struggle to:
Sit in the middle of her chair
Stay there without fidgetting
In terms of #1, she often falls off her chair as she sits on the edge. Even ...
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Do most 2-3-year-old toddlers deliberately disobey?
We have two daughters, 2 and 3 years old, 13 months apart.
Our oldest has over the past several months taken to the "I'd rather do precisely the opposite of what you just asked me to do" mindset. ...
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Why does my baby grind her face into my shoulder?
During episodes of fussiness, my 6-week-old daughter has started grinding her face into my chest or shoulder. She shakes vigorously from side to side like she's trying to burrow out the other side. ...
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How to tell my 4-year-old son not to get hyper with his uncle or anyone except parents?
My brother in law is a cocky, arrogant person. The way I see it, my son plays with him and they laugh and play really loud, but suddenly he has change of mood like flicking a switch. As 4-year-olds do ...
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Why do kids pick up on violence in cartoons/movies?
Why is it that children seem to pick up and mimic even the tiniest examples violence on TV?
It's like a golden beacon of what not to do and they seem to be just magnetized towards it.
Let me try to ...
user7678
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Why should children be rewarded for good behaviour?
I have been reading about star charts and other reward systems for children, and wonder whether rewarding what I would call normal behaviour (e.g. do your chores, don't hit your little brother, etc) ...
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How can I motivate my child who doesn't care about rewards?
My son is 8 and has always been argumentative and basically lazy with doing ANYTHING since he could talk.
If he has homework that takes ten minutes, he will take two hours due to just leaving the ...
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When should a child stop using a pacifier, and how can I help with this transition?
I am curious how a child can be helped to move on from his/her pacifier, and what age is a good age to do this?
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How to restrain my 13-year-old pubescent sister?
Just to understand my position:
I, as her older brother (she is without father, 13 and I'm 24), have to sometimes act like her parent, because mom just can't restrain her, when she starts yelling or ...
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Why does my child eat so slowly?
When we have a family meal, the middle daughter will always take her time. I mean up to 2 hours, to finish a meal, especially if its not her kind of food. She'll get very easily distracted, sing to ...
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Toddler does not want to fall asleep
My 2½ year old son does not want to sleep, regardless how tired he is. He will do anything and everything he can think of, just to avoid falling asleep. It usually takes 1-1½ hours (sometimes even ...
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How should you deal with (deliberate) selective deafness?
It's a pretty point blank question. In case you don't know what selective deafness is, here's an example:
Me: "Hey Timmy, help me carry the laundry?"
Timmy: "..."
Me: "Hey ...
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How do you respond to a teenager who has started to smoke?
How can you best handle this? Coming off as too strong and authoritative might invite "rebellion". Too lenient makes it seem okay.
What is the best response for driving home the dangers and risks ...
user420
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What to do about 1 year old boy who keeps pulling hard at his penis and scrotum?
This has been going on a little while and the health visitor says its normal but we are a bit concerned about the force our child is using when he pulls at his penis: He really yanks it and it looks ...
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How should my 8 year old son deal with a girl who hits him?
My kid is 8 yrs old. This morning he asked me, "Mummy, you told me if a girl hits you don't strike her back. Should I continue to get hittings from her just because she's a girl?"
I was unable to ...
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Is it considered harmful in the longer run to frighten the child so that he behaves the way we want?
Not sure if there is a cultural difference. In our family it is considered normal to frighten the child so that he behaves the way we want.
Example-
Parent: Eat that quickly or the God will punish ...
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Why does 2 hours in front of the TV make my kids grumpy?
I've got two kids, boy 3YO and a girl 5YO.
We find that on a weekend, when they play around the house for two hours (with parental involvement) they end up reasonably good natured (although somewhat ...
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How do I motivate my ten-year old to take responsibility and to do his best?
I worry that my ten-year old son is developing (has developed) a mindset that will come back to bite him as he gets older. He is a very bright and active kid, but does not like to extend himself and ...
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What should be done when your child wakes up from a nap and is extremely irritable?
We have a daughter who takes naps and (usually) wakes up extremely cranky and irritable. She is 1 month away from being 3. Because she is so irritable, she'll usually cry when she wakes up. Depending ...
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What are good ways to begin preparing a child for a new baby?
I have a 4 and a half month old, so this won't be applicable for a while, but I would like to raise my son with the idea that he won't be an only child forever. I want my children to have a good ...
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Toddler wakes up after hour of sleep crying
My 17 month old has been waking up after approximately an hour after he goes to sleep frantically crying. It's been going on for about a month. Sometimes he is sitting up crying and sometimes he is ...
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How to build self-confidence / reduce social anxiety in a 7+ yr old boy?
Summary: I am looking for strategies and parenting best practices on how to boost self-confidence & reduce social anxieties in a 7+ yr old boy.
Context: We have a little boy who seems to be ...
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Dealing with "breaking the rules"
So we have 2 young boys, aged 8 and 6. The 8 year old is very smart for his age, he's intuitive, figures out how things work, and knows how to get what he wants. The 6 year old however is more ...
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Destructive when unattended
We have been having trouble with my seven year-old son when he is unattended at naptime and bedtime. When he can't sleep, he gets bored, and when he gets bored, he gets destructive. The latest was ...
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How to deal with toddler discipline and tantrums
Obviously toddlers have different behaviours so this is not an easy one size fits all question. So I am asking generically as opposed to specifically.
Today I had to discipline my toddler for a very ...
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12 year old boy is totally out of control
My seventh grader screamed "Fuck you" at me last night. I am at the end of my rope. His behavior is so bad I feel like I need to send him away to a boarding school or something because he is causing ...
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How should I inform parents if their children are bothering me?
Today, on the bus, I was seated a row behind a mother and her young daughter (I guess about 5-6 years old), and the child just couldn't stay quiet: she was singing constantly, saying "byebye, please ...
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Why does my daughter smile and start to laugh at me when I am noticeably really angry at her?
My daughter is 11 years old and has been diagnosed with high functioning austism along with sensory processing disorder. I am a single father and have raised her alone since she was two years old. We ...
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How can 7-year old defend himself when toddler is hitting?
I am a mother to a 7 year old boy and I have a friend who has a 2 years toddler. Both my friend and I try our best to use the Conscious and Peaceful Parenting Approach.
Her little daughter is lovely ...
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How do you handle unsupervised, poorly behaved children in public play areas?
This is closely related to this question. However, that primarily deals with interactions at relatively controlled, private functions. This question is more focused on the feeding-frenzy style chaos ...
user420
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How do you handle grandparents who spoil your children?
Our parents suddenly don't apply their rules in our upbringing to our children. On the contrary.
How should we deal with this? Do we just let it be, or should we discuss the matter. I understand ...
user35
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How to deal with a teenager who wants his parents to buy him everything his friends have?
How do I teach my son the value of money and to differentiate between a need and a want?
The problem I am facing is that he is 19 years old, not 5 years old. He is my youngest son and to be honest I ...
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Why are parents so concerned about profanity around their children?
I've spent some time around parents of children in the 2months to 6 years range. And both were quite diligent about having me watch what I said, in particular around profanity.
Why the concern?
For ...
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How to get my 4yo daughter's fixation on my belly button under control?
I don't know where to begin with this question. It's awkward and to be honest, it makes me feel rather uncomfortable. Simply put, I'm led to believe that my four year old daughter is obsessed with my ...
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Ways to convince a teenager to quit smoking
I'm 23 years old and I have a sister that is very soon turning 17. She lives with my parents and I live abroad for a couple of years now.
My mother noticed that my sister started smoking around 1 ...
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How much should I interact with my newborn?
I have a 2 month old baby. My wife and I take care of him collectively. As he is growing, his sleep time is reducing. Sometimes, due to our schedules, we want him to sleep, but the baby is still ...
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How to stop my preschooler from constantly running away
We have a very active 4-year-old. She has a will of her own though with what she wants to do, and there's one thing in particular that I find I don't know what to do: she's constantly running away.
...
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When should I allow a child to swear?
Disclaimer: I do not have kids of my own yet, so this is more of a curiosity question.
I'd met some kids via online gaming who were ages 13 or so, and swearing quite skillfully. I think in ...
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How can I negotiate with a toddler successfully?
Recently our 2.5 daughter started being really annoying about doing simple daily things, like brushing her teeth, dressing, undressing, putting on shoes to go out, etc. Often we need to negotiate up ...
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