How to Teach Your Child to Listen

Many parents find it very difficult to get their children to listen and behave appropriately. To be honest, it doesn't have to be that hard. It's really up to parents to teach their children listening skills.

If your child isn't listening to you, it's time to take a deeper look into your parenting skills. Take a deep breath, there is help. Follow these few steps in order to learn how to teach your children to listen.

First off, consistent parenting is the one tool that will teach your children to listen. Consistency is truly the key to parenting. It's so important to start being consistent with your parenting from the time your child is a young toddler. The earlier you start, the easier it will be to teach your kids to listen. However, if you are just now learning the tools to teach your children to listen, it may take a little extra work, yet it's still worth changing your parenting skills in order to change the cycle.

Tips To Help Teach Your Kids To Listen:

Consistent parenting means sticking to rules 100% percent all of the time. If you sit and yell or nag at your children to listen, without any consequences, your children will never take you seriously. You must stick to rules and enforce them. Actions truly do speak louder than words.

You should only have to give your children one warning. After one warning, it's time to show your child that you mean what you are saying. For toddlers and young children, you should use a time out and it is suggested that you use 1 minute per each year of age (3 years old equals 3 minutes in time out). If your child won't sit in time out, you must take the time to sit there with them in order to prevent them from leaving their time out area. Ignore the fit as much as possible and act as if it isn't bothering you one single bit. You do not want to give any negative behavior any sort of attention.

Once your child has successfully reached the end of their time out, it's time to bend down to their level and look into their eyes with a soft but firm voice and let them know why they were in time out. Children often forget very easily and it's best to remind them of their actions and why they were being punished.

While using consistent parenting, it's also important to use positive reinforcement. This means letting your children know when they are showing good behavior and reward them. This can be as simple as praising them and telling them that you are proud of their behavior, or giving them a sticker at the end of the day for positive behavior. Children react very well to positive reinforcement.

Source:http://www.ehow.com/