It is just a fact of life that some preschool age children have problems interacting socially with their peers. When your preschooler begins to shows the signs of bullying, acting up in the school environment and biting it is necessary for the parent to teach their child how to handle their intense emotional responses. Handling these potentially destructive behaviors as early as possible will make the developing years much easier for both you and your child.
It is important to put a stop to any negative behaviors your child is exhibiting as quickly as possible. If your child has started resolving their problems by hitting, biting or being a bully, the child needs instruction immediately. A small behavior is easily corrected but once it becomes a habit, it is a difficult issue.
It is essential that you are firm when dealing with stopping your child from any bad behavior. They need to know that ‘no’ really does mean ‘no’. Following through with whatever you set as a punishment for their continued actions needs to be set in concrete. Be sure to be reasonable with the consequence that you set for their actions.
Your most important course of action will be the alternative behavior that you will teach your child. Instead of bullying or biting, your child needs to be taught a positive way to handle their out of control emotional responses. You might play games to teach your child cooperation. Stuffed animals can be used for role-playing to show a better way to handle problems. Keep monitoring your child. One learning session will not be enough.
Monitoring your child means stopping bad behaviors but it also means reinforcing their good behaviors. This is the best tool to learn. Talking with your child’s teachers about what happens during the activities in the classroom will give you important information about their behavior patterns when they are away from home. Determining when and where your child is having behavior problems can help you effect a positive change that will help them learn new, positive behaviors.
To change a negative behavior in your preschooler, handle their bullying or biting quickly and replace these unhappy patterns with something positive. Keep it positive and keep praising any good behavior changes. Your preschooler will respond to your positive, loving instruction.
