How do you deal with a difficult child?

[Anonymous]

[DaySpring]

A good child - obeys!
A good adult - what? obey is the only thing they were taught

One must not use punishment... Punishment is not discipline. You must show them the way of self-discipline. You must glorify good so much so that it inspires them to be virtuous. You find out their motives and reveal to them how good traits such as courtesy, self discipline, tolerance, sincerity, politeness etc can help them get what they want. I treat people polite no matter how they treat me because I know that me treating someone bad will never lead to someone treating me good. I am selfishly treating them polite. I am polite to the ones I love because I love them and because I am selfish. If I truly, sincerely make my enemies into my friends... Have I not beaten them? Have I not lessen the obstacles - of today or tomorrow - in the way of what I desire?

The most important thing in raising a child besides love is the adaption of winning habits! As adults we come to understand that habits control EVERYTHING. As a parent, your job is to instill winning habits in your child. You are either instilling winning habits or losing habits. There is no in-between because that is the law of life, though few know it.

None of what I said applies to the child of no reason. They cannot be 2 years old is my point. Glorify good. You can do this by only letting them watch things that glorify good and good qualities. You teach them through stories but also by being virtuous YOURSELF. Another way is by praising good and praising the good in them. However, do not punish the bad in them. That is not how real change occurs. Many evil people exist but are simply afraid to express their evilness due to fear of punishment. Are they not still evil? Do they not lie to their parents? Rap videos are not good. Rap videos glorify bad. Smoking and drinking and fighting etc. Guard your Childs mind like it is their heart because it is the window to their heart.

A difficult child simply doesn't have the rationale to be good yet. You must find it and give it to them. Perhaps it is better to give it through someone they admire.

I know I sound strange but there is a lot of sound advice in this message. All you have to ask yourself is what would you do if you were being difficult? What would change you? What would truly change you inside and out, not just out.

[Telekinetic-Potato]

Try to understand them, build a relationship with the child and come from a place of compassion when approaching them. If a kid is running around wreaking havic, not listening. They probably feel like they're unseen / they don't have anyone they can trust to be honest with.

They're bottling up an adult amount of emotions that they never learned how to deal with or identify.

People forget that everything doesn't just come naturally to kids, they neet to be taught things. It's our job as adults to help them learn.