Dealing With Defiant Kids - How To Develop A Few Simple Strategies Which Will Always Work

I once spoke to a child psychologist about defiant kids. He remarked that they love a fight and seem to thrive in a conflict situation. The child throws out the bait and the parents, without fail, pick it up and then everybody wonders why the whole family ends up having family therapy. There must be an easier way. If this type of behavior in defiant kids is neglected, the scenario can become rather serious as the child grows up. It could turn into a serious conduct disorder and that will lead to typical behaviors such as lying, stealing, destroying property, getting into fights and arson. Setting limits with defiant kids and telling then what the bottom line is does not mean that we have to respond by being inflexible, harsh and unforgiving. If we do that, we are sending the wrong message because the child is the first one to pick up on a lack of empathy or support. By calmly explaining to a defiant child why something is wrong or what is unacceptable behavior is much better that responding to the bait like shouting back and coming down to their level, as I mentioned above. The American Academy Of Child And Adolescent Psychiatry have very clear views on this. Their experience shows over and over again that defiance in children just deteriorates if the parents react by yelling or issuing false threats which are never implemented. Another case of parents rising to the bait! The other strategy for dealing with defiant kids is to make sure that the bottom line on behavior is consistently applied and that there are no exceptions. This is not to say that some flexibility cannot be applied at times. But if there are major exceptions to the rules, then this opens the floodgates. The child will be uncertain of what the limits are and will start pushing your buttons to find out how far he can go. If you feel that dealing with defiant kids is getting you down, why not get help from somebody who has over twenty years experience and is a child psychologist. Why not take action now so that your family life is not upset.