Behavior Management Guidelines

The most important keys to successful behavior management are consistency and repetition. Stick to whatever rules you make all the time. Know that the rules will need to be repeated again and again for them to work.

The best way to teach behavior is to use lots of rewards. For every problem behavior, there is a good behavior to take its place. Give rewards after good behavior so your child will want to do the good behavior, instead of the bad. Your child should make the connection between the good behavior and the rewards.

Make sure you do not accidentally reward the problem behaviors. For example, if your child throws a tantrum to get attention, don't give him/her attention. Otherwise, he/she will make the connection between the problem behavior and a reward.

Your child will cooperate with the rules when there is an overall positive relationship where he/she feels valued and loved. This is another reason that it is very helpful to use lots of rewards when managing behavior. Remember the '10 to 1' rule: for every negative comment or correction, there should be at least ten positive comments.

Make sure your child understands what is going on. Give instructions and provide rewards, so he/she knows what is expected and why he/she is being rewarded or why he/she is not rewarded.

Set things up to succeed. Do everything you can think of, to make it least likely that the problem behavior can happen. For example, if your child is throwing rocks through the window, get rid of the rocks!

Get organized. Start with a simple plan that is easy to do, and stick to it. Keep a written record of progress so you know what works and what doesn't. If something isn't working, try to figure out why and try a new plan based on what you have learned.

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