Difficult child behaviors:
What is it?
- Children interrupt each other and adults all the time.
- Talking in the middle of someone else's story
- Speaking out in class
- Saying a parent's name repeatedly when they are on the phone
- Children also seek attention in many ways. Sometimes they seek parents' attention in positive ways:
- Giving a hug
- Asking if the parent wants to do an activity
- Hanging out wherever the parent is
- Sometimes they seek attention in negative ways:
- Yelling
- Saying mean things
- Doing something they know they are not supposed to do
Where do they get this from?
- Young children are egocentric. This means that they see themselves as the most important people in the world. This is not a problem; it is a normal stage of development that usually lasts from about 2-7 years of age. When children have a thought, they want to share it immediately.
- Children also take time to develop impulse control. This means that when they want to do or say something, it is hard for them to wait. It takes energy and focus to wait, and their brains often decide it will be easier to just do or say what they want.
- Sometimes children are reinforced for interrupting or negative attention seeking behaviors. Parents might answer an interruption, give in to the child's request, or stop what they are doing to give positive or negative attention to the child. In these cases, the child's brain learns that these behaviors get them what they want.
