When Kids Won't Get Ready For School
Author: http://www.mychildcanbehave.com Total views: 11 Word Count: 584
Sometimes I feel like I am the only one in the world with this problem. But I'm sure there are many others who experience the same thing as I do. Dynamics change between families and I guess having four kids makes it tough for me. But I would like to share some of my experiences with other parents in the hope that I might help a few.
There has been an ongoing issue with my daughter regarding getting out the door to school on time each morning. Even when I wake her up very early she still seems to muck around every morning. she is regularly late for school by a few minutes and this is a source of frustration for me.
When dealing with a child who is reluctant to go to school, the first thing you must do is ask them if they are being bullied at school by another child. Often this will be the answer. But if not, at least you know that you will need to come up with a plan to deal with this problem.
Always try something positive to start off with. An example of this might be a sticker chart and at the end of the week a trip to buy ice cream if they have stickers for every day. Make the reward immediate and something that the child likes in order to motivate them. And as your child gets better you can then start to make the rewards a bit further apart.
Always exhaust all possibilties before turning to look at the negative. Positive reinforcement always works much better if you can manage it. Well it would be nice if I could practice what I preach but alas, this morning I had to go for a negative consequence. On account of Becky throwing a tantrum this morning I felt that I had to act to help her change her behavior.
Becky has left for school now, about ten minutes late, and I am left to decide what consequence will help her to learn a lesson. Remember that a consequence should be given in order to help a child learn that it is simply not worth it. I am thinking of removing a few things from her room to go up into my top cupboard: some rather grown up earrings that Beck should not be wearing if she is still throwing tantrums plus a few grown up items of clothing more suitable for an older, more mature child.
It is important to make the crime match the punishment as closely as possible. I don't know if I have got it exactly right today. But I figure that if a child of mine is still throwing a tantrum at age ten, perhaps she should not be wearing grown up clothes.
Even though this may seem harsh, I will give Becky a chance to lessen her consequence very quickly. Our job as parents is to help prepare our kids for the outside world when they grow up. Even convicts in jail have the chance to lessen their time behind bars for good behavior. So our kids should also be provided with this opportunity to lessen a consequence wherever possible. If Becky does the right thing for perhaps two days, she will get her earrings back and so on until she has earned everything back again. This way she fully understands that she is responsible for making things happen in her life. And that's the way I want it to be.
My Articles Directory Free Web Content Provider
About the Author
Kim Patrick is a single mom with four kids who lives on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. She is a best selling author as well as a child behavior managementexpert and her book on raising children can be found on her web site www.mychildcanbehave.com
Copy and Paste Article Code.
Remember: The article body, title, author bio and links may not be changed or removed. By publishing this article, you agree to all the terms in our Terms of Service.