How to get your child to respect others. 6 parenting tips.
A little Respect goes a long way. Nobody wants to deal with a disrespectful person, be it a child or an adult, so let's fix that pronto. When a child acts difficult, giving in to their bad behavior is not productive. First, you must determine the reason for their behavior and then determine how to react. Oh, and you need to do this on the spot without hesitation. This may seem far-fetched, but kids are kids, after all, and that's precisely why there may be multiple causes for their disrespectful behavior. To change the bad behavior, a parent must understand what's triggering it and ensure the consequences for disrespectful behavior align with the parents’ goals.
1. Lay out your plan, captain.
Save yourself a lot of arguments and headaches by minimizing a child's anxiety. Unknowns make people anxious, so they should respect and plan for it. Remember to communicate your plan before barking orders and expecting everyone in your household to run on your schedule. Warm up the members of your household with a high-level view of the plan, observe the concerns of those involved, address the concerns, and repeat the plan with more reassuring detail. If necessary, break things into more minor chores or wishes and track them with a mobile reward app and universal wishlist such as Wishfinity.
Bottom line: if your child gets disrespectful when you announce it's time to go to soccer practice, don't threaten to cancel practice and send them to their room. This is a lose-lose arrangement. Turn the discussion around by letting your child know their behavior is not okay, but, more importantly, explaining what about soccer practice is upsetting him/her.
2. Start with small, regular social interactions.
Play dates are great for teaching your children how to respect others. Tell your kids beforehand what to expect and how to react to treat others with respect. When instructing them to play well with others, use examples of being friendly and playing well with others. Remind them not to be too rough, if at all, on the playground.
3. Realistic expectations go a long way.
Kids look to their parents to be the teachers and to guide them along the way. So what do you do? Teach them what they need to know. Gradually add lessons in respect to your daily practices. Start with saying please and thank you. Then incorporate appropriate gestures like how to hold the door open for others, and to use phrases like 'yes ma'am, or 'yes sir', to convey respect when listening to adults. And let's not forget things we are not to do, like keeping our hands to ourselves.
4. Consequences.
Punish with a swift time out or light reprimand, depending on the situation. If he or she continues being disrespectful, limit playtime or other privileges. Or rather than repeatedly limiting privileges, shift gears and start acknowledging and rewarding your child for their good days. It won't take long for a kid to understand that working with you is far better than working against you.
5. Lay down that structure.
What's the best thing for a developing child's mind? Stability. A consistent structure is paramount for any developing child, plus it teaches children what is expected of them. House rules teach respect and politeness in the privacy of your home as well as those of others. Establish clear rules early on. Everything from bedtime, snack time is after school, and 'finish your homework before going to play' helps reinforce a predictable structure and minimizing anxiety.
6. Games always spice up things.
Create new rules like 'Whoever can hold the door open for others gets a small prize!' Or friendly challenges focused on perpetuating kindness, such as 'Whoever gives the best compliments is the king of words today.' Don't turn it into too much competition if you have multiple children in the house, or this plan could backfire!
A little respect goes further than most people think. It could mean differences in many things in our world today and tomorrow. Teaching our children to respect others is paramount to improving human relations. That means happier people overall, with less stress, conflict, and fuller lives. Learning to respect others is future-changing, so it's not something you should skip out on teaching your kids whenever possible.