Child misbehaviour can be due to many different reasons. The main reason why your child is misbehaving is most likely a cry for attention, respect or a way of communicating that they are unhappy. An interesting notion is that children may not have any intention of being deliberately naughty but misbehaviour is in face just a by product.

Misbehaviour stems from a child’s unmet needs. Many children start to learn that the only way they are able to get attention is by throwing a tantrum and from a child’s point of view, any attention is better than none, even if it is negative attention.

As a parent, you role is to make sure your children are getting their needs filled in constructive, positive ways, not getting their attention by behaving badly. The most productive way to do this is by praising and reinforcing their good behaviour. It is essential that as parents, you spend plenty of quality time talking, reading and playing with you children.

Often parents think that having washed clothes, cooked meals and transported children to and from school they have spent all their time doing things for their children. In reality children need their emotional and spiritual needs met and to be stimulated and extended mentally. This could be involving children more in your daily tasks/ routines that involves question asking or mastering of a skill, such as cooking or involve yourself more with their routine, finding out what they did at school, what homework they have.
It has been scientifically proven that children who interact more with parents, have more conversations, are read more stories and play lots of games with their parents are better developed socially and perform better at school.

Families which communicate and interact socially more are far better prepared to weather the challenges of family life. As parents it is essential you focus on building a strong relationship with you children rather than punishing or emphasising their bad behaviour. You will get much more satisfaction out of parenting when you have as much fun as possible and reinforce your children getting attention in positive ways. Make sure they know, their bad behaviour is nothing to do with how much you love them; but NEVER make compliance a condition of your love and approval.