Dealing with your child's defiant behaviour can be depressing for you, your child and other family members. Remember that handling Oppositional Defiant Disorder the wrong way can worsen the situation for your entire family. Below are essential tips on ways to successfully deal with Oppositional Defiant Disorder in children. The tips are easy to understand and follow and can help you make a significant difference in your quest to assist your child struggling with this behavioral disorder.
Use effective teaching skills
Often, adults have the final say on most matters when dealing with kids. However, it's not always productive for you to always be right when handling your child who is suffering from Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Extreme power struggles between you and your child can easily trigger your child's behavioral disorder, especially if you're wrong. Also, power struggles on inconsequential issues, such as the color of clothes your child should wear, are counter-productive in your struggle to lessen your child's Oppositional Defiant behavior.
Identify situations that are not very sensitive, and let your child choose what they prefer. Giving your child some liberty builds their trust in you, and in turn your child becomes more cooperative and obedient. Also, in situations where your child cannot have many choices, you can offer two or three choices, and then encourage your child to choose one of the choices.
Give appropriate encouragement
It's critical that you give your child specific praise and encouragement after following your instructions or behaving appropriately. Remember that being specific requires you to mention the correct behavior. For instance, if your child cleans up the room, offer praise and mention that you're offering praise because the room is clean.
Offering specific praise allows your child to learn that the behavior you're praising is good. Eventually, your child will understand and differentiate good behavior from bad, and you will start to notice progress in the right direction.
Use a positive approach to respond
Always remember that your child learns more from what you do than from what you say. So, it's critical that you train yourself to respond positively to your child's behavior, irrespective of whether the behavior is negative or positive.
For instance, if your child is rude to you, then a positive response from you should be non-intrusive; you can take a deep breath and calmly let your child know that being rude to you is inappropriate. Remember that parental training for parents dealing with children suffering from Oppositional Defiant Disorder provides parents with the necessary parenting skills. You may want to consult psychologists for further guidance on parental training.
Oppositional Defiant Disorder is a common behavioral disorder in children that you can effectively manage. The above-mentioned tips offer essentials that can help you lessen your child's Oppositional Defiant Behavior.
