As children get more unruly and display challenging behaviors, this adds more stress and mental workload to childcare providers. It didn’t help that the pandemic put a wrench into children’s usual routines that would have helped them develop and progress. Here are some evidence-based strategies against challenging child behaviors which could help childcare providers.

Promoting Prosocial Behavior

Challenging children, especially those who engage in relational aggression, may be harder to deal with when they have good relationships with their teachers and people with authority who are responsible for disciplining them. The way to deal with this is to model prosocial behavior so that children copy and mimic your behavior, thereby learning to engage in more prosocial behaviors over time. Addressing the recipient of relational aggression is also important so that the aggressor knows the teacher or person of authority sees both parties as equal in their eyes.

Clear Consistent Consequences

Whenever a child exhibits negative behavior, it should be addressed immediately and a consequence communicated clearly as a result of their bad behavior. This lets the child know the connection between their bad behavior and the consequence. It helps the child understand why he/she will experience something they dislike like getting a timeout or toys taken away from them. As a child makes the connection between the bad behavior and consequence enforced, it’ll deter them from committing the behavior. One thing that must be addressed is that the consequence must be applied consistently so that the child understands each time they commit the bad behavior, a consequence will happen.

Positive Reinforcement

One good way to combat a child’s challenging behavior is to highlight good behavior. Immediate praise is very important and effective in boosting a child’s motivation to continuously choose to do positive behavior. This is also a way to teach a child which actions and behaviors are encouraged that helps not only him but his friends and peers feel better about themselves.

Age-appropriate consequences

A 2-year old may not benefit from a timeout and instead may risk developing a fear of abandonment and neglect, resulting in displaying more negative behavior to capture a parent or childcare provider’s attention. On the other hand, a 4-year old given an inconsequential punishment such as taking away a toy but letting him continue to play may send the wrong signal that he can continue trying to test his boundaries and see which rules he can break.
A misinterpretation of consequences can just as easily add more fuel to the fire if the child is given the wrong consequence.