A child can be mischievous for any number of reasons. Boredom is quite a common factor. If a child is occupied with plenty of interesting activities, then that child will not have the time to be mischievous. The most you will get is a lot of questions related to what they are doing, which is all the better as it shows an intelligent mind. Often very clever children have this problem, because their intellect is not stretched enough and the child will find something else to do which can lead to all sorts of trouble.
A child can also be mischievous to gain someone's attention. They do not care if it is negative attention as long as they are noticed and have your full attention. Unfortunately this can develop into a habit with both the child and carer/parent. What often happens is that bad behaviour gets attention and good behaviour is ignored. To break this cycle, a concerted effort must be made to praise good behaviour and spend more quality time with the child doing things that they want to do. For boring activities such as shopping a child can start with negative behaviour, but if tasks are given, such as assign the child things to get and put in the trolley. Good behaviour each trip out could lead to a reward,such as going to the park.
If a child is being naughty, then time out has always worked for me. Once time out is finished, then some kind of activity was always ready for the child to do leaving no time for sulking.
Having said all that, a child has to be mischievous sometimes. It is part of the learning process for them and can give the parent many a chuckle (never in front of the child I hasten to add).
A child can also be mischievous to gain someone's attention. They do not care if it is negative attention as long as they are noticed and have your full attention. Unfortunately this can develop into a habit with both the child and carer/parent. What often happens is that bad behaviour gets attention and good behaviour is ignored. To break this cycle, a concerted effort must be made to praise good behaviour and spend more quality time with the child doing things that they want to do. For boring activities such as shopping a child can start with negative behaviour, but if tasks are given, such as assign the child things to get and put in the trolley. Good behaviour each trip out could lead to a reward,such as going to the park.
If a child is being naughty, then time out has always worked for me. Once time out is finished, then some kind of activity was always ready for the child to do leaving no time for sulking.
Having said all that, a child has to be mischievous sometimes. It is part of the learning process for them and can give the parent many a chuckle (never in front of the child I hasten to add).
