Child Suddenly Started Misbehaving

happy family mother father and children at home on the couch

A very common occurrence is that of parents noticing their child start to present with negative child behaviour of some kind, but they don’t acknowledge it, as it is a “once off” or infrequent behaviour that their child is presenting with.

Examples From A Behaviour Therapist Of Types Of Behaviour Challenges A Parent Might Notice Their Child Present With But Not Address Initially:

– Difficulty Managing Anger

– Tantrums

– Sibling Rivalry

– Attention-Seeking/Connection-Seeking Behaviours

– Etc.

What then happens is, it is quite often not until this behaviour has become a “well established” behaviour before parents attempt to address it. Although it is good to address negative behaviour, Behaviour Analysts highlight that it is made a lot more difficult to address a behaviour the longer it has been going on.

*Studies in the field of Behaviour Analysis have discovered, the longer the history of conditioning of a behaviour, the more difficult it is to change.*

Although the longer an individual has presented with a particular behaviour, the harder it is to change it – Child Therapists point Out, It Can Still Be Changed.

But to make parenting a lot easier for yourself (& your child) do your best to address negative behaviours when you first see them occur rather than hope that the behaviour won’t keep happening & then being in a more difficult situation if/when they do.