Controlling

At different times in a child's life, they will try to control things - and they will see how far they can push it! This can be part of them growing in confidence and independence. It can feel like a tug of war sometimes! There are some things you can try to balance how decisions are made..

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Controlling

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Tips to manage controlling behaviours

Help your child to feel included where you can. You could give your child two things to choose between, giving them chance to have some say, within what’s safe and possible. E.g. when you’re looking to do something free as a day out, ask if they would go to the park or the beach.
Make sure you keep being the parent. It might be hard to see it, but children feel safe when they know what to expect from their parent. Stick to the things you’ve said, and keep the rules you’ve put in place.
Look beyond the behaviour. Is something happening in your child’s life that they could be making them feel out of control? Take a moment to think about if there’s something behind their bossy behaviour.

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Time to reflect

When thinking about how you can handle your child’s bossiness…

What are you already doing that you want to carry on doing?

What have you learned that you could try today?

What do you want to do next?

Know what you want to do next?

Log into your free account (on the top right-hand side) to set a goal on something that’s important to you and your family – then you can check in to show yourself how far you’ve come.

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