5 Best Ways To Deal With Aggressive Behavior In Children
Does your child get irritated for every single thing? Do you sense growing signs of aggression in your little one?
Aggression is a very common symptom that occurs in children. It is seen in several distinct forms causing physical, emotional and considerable distress in your kid. While it is a natural thing that happens as part of growing, your child is expected to manage his emotions and control them when they are in school. The earlier you guide your toddler, the better are the chances for him to cope with aggression.
Aggression in Children:
Children with aggressive behavior tend to be self-generated, restless and irritable. New studies find that this quality is linked with their verbal abilities or awakened nature. Occasional outburst of aggression in your child is normal but it is risky if it occurs frequently or in patterns. This is often a byproduct of the inability of your little one to deal with the frustration, biological factors, poor parenting or lack of relationship skills.
Causes Of Aggressive Behavior In Children:
The key to handle the aggression of your child is to understand what the root cause is.
1. Genetic Factors:
Genetic factors have been increasingly emphasized in the recent years as root cause for aggression. Expert studies have often found that aggressive children mostly have aggressive parents.
While it results more from genetic factors rather than environmental factors, parents with waging temper should keep themselves under check.
[ Read:Temper Tantrums in Children ]
2. Ineffective Family Pattern:
Often lack of supervision, over-reaction to a child’s behavior, family stress badly leads to serious behavior problems. Such children experience low self-esteem and hence squeeze out frustration, behaving rude to others.
The level of family stress, core problems in parents, depression issues, positive and/or negative influences of family, are some causes which heavily contribute to aggression in children. Poor parenting such as harsh discipline, parental disharmony, lack of appreciation, child abuse, etc., are also contributing factors to aggressive behaviour in children.
3. Individual Characteristics:
A lot of aggression is attributed to individual emotional experiences of children. Lack of empathy, poor social skills, lower than average IQ level or difficult temperament are more likely to affect your child who will face behavioral difficulties.
Children with medical condition such as conduct disorder should be treated quickly because it is a serious condition that can involve cruelty to people and animals.
4. Environmental Factors:
Children who are living in an unsafe neighborhood that has people who deal with drugs and gambling are most susceptible to aggressive behavior. Kids attending a poorly unsafe school or have friends who behave aggressively with them, watch televisions the whole day are all prone to abnormal conduct.
Poverty, deprivation or single parenting can also cause a child to react strongly toward others.
5. Watching Too Much Television:
The role of media has a lot to do with social behavioral development of children. Studies have found that children who are addicted to television lack communication with their parents and have ineffective eating patterns. Shows like cartoons and football games makes children more aggressive. Your children often mimic what they see.
For example, if they observe people kicking or punching on screen, they tend to imitate the same in real life. Studies suggest that television creates a negative impact because children often use it as means of conflict resolution.
[ Read: Impact of TV on Children ]
How To Deal With Aggressive Behavior In Children?
If you do not proactively deal with your aggressive child on priority, there is every chance that the problem will magnify in no time. Here are some simple things that you can do to help your child overcome extremely aggressive behavior.
1. Parenting Style:
Parenting style plays an important role in educating aggression. Use accidental aggression as teaching moments.
For example, if your child hurts his friend, don’t react then and there and yell at him. Instead, use that incident to show your child how an aggressive behavior can hurt others. Make your child realize and apologize sincerely to the other child.
Also, educate your child on how to deal productively with negative emotions such as anger and frustration. Ask your child to promote verbal communication and to dictate the problem. Take note of any serious signs that your child is developing to stop the aggressive behavior.
2. Appreciate Your Child:
Positive discipline strategies such as motivating them by appreciating and rewarding will help reduce their aggression.
Whenever you take your child somewhere and if he behaves well shower him with praises and show him how it really made you happy. This will make your child feel better and would want him to behave in a positive manner more often.
3. Discuss In An Appropriate Manner:
Parents need to stay calm to handle their children. Even if you had a tough day, calm down and discuss with your child about his actions in a peaceful way. Tell him about the results of his actions and that other children are unlikely to play with him in future if he continues such a behavior.
Regular counseling is necessary.
[ Read: Strategies To Promote Positive Behaviour In Children ]
4. Monitor The Influence Of Friends:
Friends play a crucial role in your child’s life and greatly influence his behavior. If your child observes his friends answering back to parents or behaving aggressively with their siblings, he will definitely start considering this as an acceptable behavior.
In this case, try to explain your child that the negative action of his friend is wrong.
5. Be A Role Model:
Always remember that children often imitate the behavior of their parents. If you, as a parent, act aggressively, then chances are that your child will copy you.
Therefore, resist doing something in presence of your kid in response to negative circumstances. Be calm and patient in front of your child and set good examples.
We hope the above points enable you to gain a better understanding of the causes of aggressive behavior in your child and also how to reduce the same. If you do not happen to see any improvement in your child’s temperament post considering the above measures, then it is better to seek further help right away. Try talking to his teachers or child therapists to seek help.
Wish you good luck!
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