Nurturing positive behaviour in toddlers in public settings

Guiding little kids in public spaces can be a difficult yet gratifying task if done properly. The naturally inherent curiosity, the overflow of energy, and a sense of exploration are the chief factors responsible for their wild behaviour in public. At this point, it becomes a cardinal job for their parents to maintain patience, kindness, congeniality and reinforcement in handling their behaviour. Kids always deserve compassionate treatment, and it is through this virtue that their upbringing could become an adventurous journey, until the arrival of maturity.

Encouraging positive behaviour

No doubt, imparting the awareness of proper behaviour in little ones is a very challenging task. However, it is possible by abiding by simple steps.

1. Providing them proper attention

There can be no better way to delight a kid than how they can receive the proper attention of their parents, even in public. The working parents fall short of managing enough time for their children chiefly because of their buzzing work lives. But when their children get their parent’s attention towards them, an involuntary gush of positivity gets channelised in their construct, which helps them in growing up well.

2. Becoming their role models

Being a kid’s role model cannot have a universally accepted definition. Nor is it a child’s play for parents. A child, for a major portion of their lives, watches and admires their parents. And in this admiration, they may even contact their parent’s vices. For this the parents have got to keep their impudence as far from their kids as possible, and display to them only the most righteous aspects of their personality, so that they may become an ideal role model for their kids.

3. Teaching them the rights and the wrongs

The litmus test of an ideal upbringing is how distinctly the virtuous aspects of personality get developed in a child’s intellect. It is of principal importance for parents to make their kids aware of the Rights and the Wrongs, so that they may grow into becoming good individuals first before becoming distinguished individual. And these can be done in a greatly simplified way, conformed according to their child’s comprehensibility.

4. Building up a positive environment for themselves

The role of the environment of a house plays a crucial role in the development of the kids. A bad and pessimistic environment hampers their growth with as great a propensity with which a positive environment facilitates this process. For this reason, the parents have got to be extra cautious in promoting such an environment in the house which would align their kids on the right track of evolving into mature intellectuals, without being hampered.

5. Keeping up a good sense of humour

Humour dissolves stress and anxiety in everyone — be it a kid, or a grown-up adult. A child’s mind is not adeptly developed to understand subtle expressions of their parents which contain maturity in them. To kids, a great deal of things can be taught with the aid of tireless humour as displayed by the parents. Moreover, in public places too, the parents should not lose their cool, and give up this sense of humour to rebuke their kids for their behaviour.

Caution for parents

Besides the promotion of positive behaviour, its maintenance is a serious responsibility. There are certain points to be looked after by the parents, which if gone unnoticed, may disrupt this environment.

1. Avoiding wrong influences

Parents should always be vigilant about the company of their kids, right on from their early years. There happens to be a wild attraction towards the wrongs. And parents can help their kids stay out of all the wrong influences which they may come across.

2. Getting harsh with them

Kids, until they grow up to become mature, are very sensitive to their parent’s behaviour. It is for the parents to ensure that they do not get harsh and rude with their children for the little errors they commit. Their approach should be kind and compassionate.

3. Negative comparison

One of the most lethal things which could disrupt the positive growth of kids is their negative comparison with others. Every child has their strengths and weaknesses. And parents should strictly refrain from comparing them with others as it can cause low self-esteem in them.

4. Overlooking their misbehaviours

Overlooking the minor errors of the kids is one thing, but overlooking their misbehaviour with others is something which the parents should strictly cease to do. Their approach towards their children should be gentle, yet uncompromising in matters of discipline.

5. Lack of attention

A child cannot bear the ignorance displayed by their parents towards them. In this matter, even parents ought to take the plunge in ensuring that their child gets their due attention towards themselves. This ensures vigilance, satisfaction, and overall a healthy environment.

The upbringing of kids, especially the younger kids, is like a pilgrimage because the returns which are yielded after over 25 years, which the parents put in, are subject to how their approach had been for all these years. However, the parents need to build up on their job, without having to worry about the unarrived future.

(The author is Director of Academics at Makoons Preschool)