Do you think the experience of working with idd group home residents helps you prepare to be a parent?

[Anonymous]

I have worked with many clients over the years and the thing all of them share in common is they think and act like a wide variety of different ages of children. At least thats how I am interpeting their behavior.

I have a client who screams into his hands when he gets angry or is being asked to do something he doesn't feel like doing, or when he is sad about something such as wanting to go home to their parents. I used to try to be comforting and talk about it, and it only made them so much more emotional and angry/sad and increased their screaming and bad behavior. I have learned that ignoring them, choosing not to care (not reacting), and occupying myself with some other task when they have their negative behaviors dramatically lessions the behaviors and makes my life easier.

I am interested to know if this works with children throwing tantrums too?

[Oliverlogan263]

Yeah man, working with those group home guys sounds like it helps prepare you for parenthood for sure. Kids can act a lot like them with the different ages and behaviors all mixed together. That screaming when upset thing is so familiar too. As a parent you gotta figure out what works without making it worse. Ignoring the tantrum so they don't get the attention they want for behaving that way is probably a smart move. My mom did that with me and my little brother sometimes and it usually calmed us down faster. As long as the kid knows you still care about them overall. Kids just want attention, even if it's bad behavior getting it. But showing you don't reward that is important. So I bet what you learned there translates well to being a dad one day if that's what you want. Dealing with all kinds of behaviors and emotions prepares you to handle a kid through anything. Nice work man!

[strateguy632]

if you learn how to respond to childish problems then you will be ready for children.