Dealing with a stubborn child

My child is stubborn, my child never listens to me, my child is naughty. Parents keep complaining about their children’ stubbornness. It is one of the annoying problems that most of the parents suffer from. They always ask what they could do. There are some tips will help you to solve this problem:

  • First, tell him that this kind of behaviour has no benefit.
  • Be calm with a moderate level of voice and don’t insult him.
  • Talk to him with an easy way that he can understand. Listen to him, try to understand his point of view, and let him express himself.
  • Don’t threaten or scare him. This will lead to more complex problems.
  • Don’t lie and don’t promise him if you are not able to fulfil your promise.
  • Reward him if he did something right and reinforce his self-confidence.
  • Give him options. His stubbornness may just be a reaction as he wouldn’t like to do what you asked him to.
  • Put yourself in his shoes and try to understand his motivations to such behaviour.
  • Make sure that he understands the task that you assigned to him.
  • Give him more time to do the task. Sometimes what you thought as a stubborn behaviour, maybe is a reflection of the limited time you gave him to do what you asked for.

Finally, the key to have a good relationship between you and your child, is that it should be based on mutual love and respect. Your child is not your shadow or your follower, he has his personality, opinions, needs and motivations. If you don’t want him to treat you in a stubborn manner, start with yourself.

Hope this helps! Let us know how you deal with your child.

Written by: Maha Abd Elkafi