Children’s Behaviour
Introduction
This book is intended for anyone bringing up, caring for or working with children – parents, carers, teachers or youth workers alike – but is addressed mainly to parents, with extra sections at the end on surviving parenthood.
Its main aim is to help you enjoy your child and your role as a parent. It aims to help you understand your child’s behaviour throughout the normal stages of development up to and through primary school, and to help you deal with problem behaviours. If you understand your child’s behaviour, you will be in a better position to deal with difficult situations effectively.
If you find your child difficult to manage, if parenting doesn’t come naturally to you or if you just want to improve your relationship with your child, there are many strategies that can help. This book offers some solutions that you can try for yourself. It will also help you decide whether you need expert help and, if so, where to find it.
It is important to remember, however, that there is no ‘right way’ to sort out children’s behavioural problems. No one knows your child and family set-up better than you, and not all of the ideas in this book will be appropriate, practical or relevant to your particular situation. A better understanding of your child’s problems may, however, lead you to new and better ideas and solutions of your own.
The section on surviving parenthood describes how stressful parenting can be, and the effect of the parent’s mood on the child. It then discusses adult relationship problems and depression, with advice about how to deal with both these difficulties.
If, having read this book, you are still concerned about your child’s behaviour, or if the problem seems too much for you to handle on your own, there are various sources of advice and help which are listed in ‘Useful information’.
When discussing a child ‘he’ or ‘she’ has been used randomly.
