Parenting without punishment is an unlikely concept to most parents. However, many tasks or rules we want followed feel like punishments to kids like chores, going to sleep on time, curfews, saying “No” to requests for material goods, and having limits on screen time of all types (phones, videos, T.V., computer youtubes, facebook, Instagram, twitter). If, however, these reasonable limits are perceived as helpful to happy lives and explained at the time, it’s so easy not to think of them as restrictions or punishments.
Author • Psychoanalyst • Artist
How to Unlock the Meaning of Your Child’s Puzzling Behavior
New Book Released
UNLOCKING PARENTAL INTELLIGENCE:
FINDING MEANING IN YOUR CHILD’S BEHAVIOR
ON AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, FAMILIUS, AND WHEREVER BOOKS ARE FOUND. THE BOOK FOR ‘EVERYPARENT’
Become a “Meaning- Maker”
Unlock the Meaning of Your Child’s Puzzling Behavior
Children of all ages demonstrate distressing behaviors. They don’t always do what warm, loving parents wish. Babies cry after they’ve been fed, changed, stimulated and hugged. Toddlers make messes after you’ve just cleaned up. Two- and Three-Year-Olds thrive on saying, “No.”
“Bad Behavior” in Good Kids. How Come?
Home is where we solve problems
Why “Bad Behavior” From Kids Who Know
What Parents’ Expect?
The phrase, “bad behavior” worries me because behavior is complex and has meaning.
Children aren’t bad; they’re complicated.
So, if a child speaks or acts in a negative way, he or she is not a bad child, but a distressed child.
Finding Meaning in Your
Child’s “Bad” Behavior
The key to parenting is to find the meaning behind the behavior that’s gone amuck. When you know the meaning, you understand why the child took that action, and then it’s easy to figure out what to do about it.