5 Tips for Better Behavior

By Linda Sorkin, L.F.M.T. and Mom
How do you point your kids in the right direction? What is the right direction anyway? When it comes to increasing the odds of changing your child's behavior, think in terms of empowering your child to change his or her own behavior. Also think in the long run in terms of the fundamentals: Character, values, principles and beliefs.

5 tips for supporting your child's self empowered path:

Know your personal values and morals. It helps to do an inventory of your own values and morals. This includes your individual values, your spouse's, and your values as a family. Once you have a clear idea of what you want to reinforce in your child, you will have a moral compass to follow in reinforcing positive behavior and ultimately character development.
Set up structure in your home that includes specific and clear rules for what is expected of your child. Kid Pointz offers a format for the parents and children to follow which explicitly states what is expected of them and how they will be rewarded/compensated for positive behavior.
Be consistent! When pointing your kids in the right direction, you want to be consistent with what you are teaching them. Being consistent in your expectations, follow through and words of wisdom, is an important part of your job as a parent.
Provide choices! As parents, your want to offer your child choices to assist them decision making. Choices give them opportunities to see they have a direct impact in how their choices play out. They can learn cause and effect and begin to take responsibility for the consequences of their behavior.
Be Flexible! It is important to be flexible with offering choices, setting expectations or creating rules for your children when they are in different developmental stages or have differing temperaments. What is good for one kid may not be for another!

Use these 5 Tips and see if they help you begin to build the kind of parental environment in which your kids can initiate positive behavior and thrive!