CREATE A CHILD-FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT AT HOME
When I visited my two and half year grandson last week, I saw him often straining his head and feet to peep out of the apartment window, four floors above, at the sweeping view of the bustling city outside. I cleared the area near the window and positioned a small chair to help him get an enjoyable view of the life outside. He is now delightfully engaged most of the time not to bother his mother.
Modify some surroundings at home, which could make the children happy and not pester the parents with unacceptable behavior. It is one simple and effective method to change the behavior of the children.
FILL THE ROOM WITH PLAY MATERIAL
Children need to be provided with a lot of alternative play material to play with, tinker with, to meddle with. Like some interesting reading material, drawing material, colorful picture books, dolls, clay, puzzles, and so on. If children are involved in a variety of activities to engage themselves, they are less likely to irritate for the parent’s attention.
Think of these small modifications in one corner of the house, which could effectively, happily reduce the aggressive, restless, troublesome behavior in children.
ENVIRONMENT MUST BE CHILD-FRIENDLY
He wants to peep out of a window, wants to play with cups, glasses, climb onto tables, put on shoes, and attempts to scribble on the walls.
If parents can make it easier for the children to do things for themselves, to handle things for themselves, safety is taken care of, it gives them the pleasure that they can enjoy the surroundings on their own. As a result, we find fewer incidents of children coming up asking parents for help, throwing tantrums, fussing over, throwing away things, crying, and whining. Changing the home surroundings is one helpful effort parents can think about to make things easy for children and stay stably and delightedly at home.
PROVIDING ALTERNATIVE RESOURCES
Children generally accept restrictions provided their freedom ensured, and within the limitations if we leave them free to play with anything that meets their needs.
If he attempts to rip off pages of a book, provide him some old magazines, newspapers to damage at his will. If he shows inclination scribbling on the wall, create a washable corner on a wall. If we find them in a mood to draw with crayons provide him with a book of white pages to draw in his wildest manner.
Problem with children arises when the parents don’t provide an alternative opportunity before taking something away from them. It is the hastiness in parents’ approach that may likely precipitate frustration and tears in children and lead to unacceptable behavior. One parenting fact is that children happily accept any alternative play ideas with no fuss, provided the parent offers it gently and calmly.
Children have an amazing capacity to adjust comfortably to changes if parents are intelligent enough to understand and plan these changes and alternative situations well ahead of time.