How to Control Your 3-Year-Old’s Aggressive Behavior
Are you experiencing aggressive behavior in your 3-year-old? Is your 3-year-old calling all the shots? Do you feel exhausted and just don’t know what else to do? If your answer is yes, and I bet it is… As you continue reading this article, you will learn how to end the power struggles, the aggressiveness and gain back control over your child behavior.
Majority of children are not able recognize their own strength or even the full consequences of their actions; and in a world where they are often being told what to do, where to go and how to behave, it does not seem all that unreasonable that they may sometimes need to speak out and be heard.
-As you may already know, controlling feelings and emotions is a learned skill and can be very difficult to master in some adults, let alone children. For whatever reason your 3 yr old throw the outburst, one thing to always keep in mind is to not interact with power and anger of any sort or you will end up with a child that is very defensive and will fight whatever you ask him not to do.
-The good news is there are better ways to deal with this kind of aggressiveness that can create a win-win situation for both of you using proper child management methods. Nagging or punishing children for acting aggressively can make it more likely that they will act that way in the future. Imagine, if you will, a 3 yr old quietly piecing a puzzle together or even playing a video game. She/he has almost completed the puzzle/game but cannot get the final pieces/play to come together.
-Throughout this quiet half an hour the parent has been around but has said absolutely nothing. Nothing, that is until the child becomes obviously frustrated and throws the puzzle/game across the room and begins screaming or swearing loudly. At this point the parent intervenes by reprimanding the child and sending him/her to their room. You know where I am going with this right?
-It would appear that the parent has done everything appropriate in this situation, except for the fact that the only attention this child received during the time period was negative. If this is commonly the case, the child may begin to feel that any attention is better than no attention and as a result may continue to act out disruptively in daily activities.
-When dealing with aggressive children, it is worth the effort to praise even the smallest attempt at proper behavior, while paying very little if any attention to negative conduct. Praise can be a very strong motivator.