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6 Tips to Help You Pick Your Parenting Battles More Wisely
written by Jeffrey Bernstein Ph.D., posted on Psychology Today
Your defiant child finds it very difficult to be challenged and to handle frustration, so trying to control too many aspects of your child’s life fuels their defiance. The benefit of being calm, firm, and noncontrolling in your parenting demeanor is that you will lower your chances of overreacting to any request, comment, or interaction with your defiant child.
This is because the best discipline you can give your child is to model and coach self-discipline in how you look at and manage their behavioral struggles.
3 Questions To Help Manage Your Child’s (And Your Own) Emotions
To help pick your battles more carefully, try to think about each situation from your child’s point of view:
- Are you being unreasonable in your requests?
- Are you provoking your child by using a commanding tone and making a rigid request?
- Are you trying to control versus understand and reason with them?