Parenting Tips

Children, like adults, enjoy attention. Children tend to continue a behavior that secures attention. Behavior that does not arouse a reaction or is ignored is likely to eventually fall by the wayside. The key to raising kids with who learn positive behavior is consistency in a parent's reactions to their choices. Children who don't receive positive reinforcement will act out in order to get some kind of attention. Parents should be proactive and engaging, demonstrating and rewarding the behaviors they want their children to learn.

To parent successfully, determine the behaviors you want from your kids and then deliberately encourage those behaviors. Along those same lines, don't inadvertently reinforce undesired, negative behaviors. This conscious maneuvering can help your child learn your expectations and perform accordingly.

It doesn't matter if your toddler learned name-calling from watching TV or is imitating unkind words he heard his friends use left unchecked, this can develop into a hard-to-break habit. Less obviously than hitting or kicking, name-calling is a form of bullying. Children also resort to name calling when they feel out of control or hurt. Stopping your toddler from name calling requires skillful parenting and teaching him more appropriate ways to express himself.