6 year old's control issues
Hi everyone, our 6-year-old is becoming more of a challenge on needing control, and I wonder if others have experienced the same and have thoughts or advice on how they handled it. While it's normal for kids to want more control over their lives at this age, she will negotiate control over even the simplest tasks multiple times a day seemingly every day, and throws fits when she doesn't get it. We recognize that she may be following behavior we model (and we are working on that), and we are trying to find ways to give her greater control (pre-tantrum) because we know it's tough not to have that. But we could use some more tools on how to better manage this if others have had success. Or if anyone has a referral they can send our way, that would be great too. Many thanks!
Parent Replies
I recommend the book “the explosive child” by Ross Greene. It explains a different way of seeing/thinking about the situations that cause our kids to get out of control and some great ideas to implement.
Might as well begin with the free and easy options. You know how unreasonable she is when she’s hungry, or sick? Well, the third condition for unreasonableness is tiredness. Make sure she’s going to bed/getting up at a consistent time and that the period between is the proper number of hours for her age.
Highly recommend the Good Inside podcast and this episode. It really helped me understand my son needed some “power” in his life and it was coming out in tantrums and other ways control the situation. https://open.spotify.com/episode/7Mx5W4Z7x4ysbkjBlskSQO?si=xjboUBbTTgGb…