Forefront Families

The strong-willed child is born, not created.  Believe it or not, they are a blessing to any family. As long as their strong will is channeled positively, they become great leaders and an asset to any society.

Under no circumstances excuse your child’s negative behavior – ‘she will grow out of it’, ‘boys will be boys’, ‘she’s too young to discipline yet’, ‘I used to be the same – it’s in the genes’. It is imperative that you are the one in control by the time the child is 2 years old, otherwise their negative pattern of behavior becomes embedded as they constantly fight to control situations.  If not taught otherwise, they can become bullies, they lose friends, and as they grow older,have extreme difficulty in obeying any authority. 

How do we manage a strong-willed child?  Here are some guidelines: 
a) Make sure the child knows the expected behaviors. 
b) Keep them busy. Encourage absorbing interests such as sport, arts, crafts etc. to direct their energies.
c) Talk them through unacceptable behaviors e.g. bullying or throwing tantrums and teach them why they should share, how to work together with others, and to take turns at being leader.
d) Teach them why they must obey authority and ensure they know theconsequences and that these consequences are applied.
e) Give the strong-willed child responsibilities so they develop leadership skills.
f) Acknowledge positive behavior.  Ignore some negative behaviors for thesake of not constantly reprimanding the child.
g) Choose your battles and work on negative behaviors one at a time.

Be tenacious – don’t give up.  We have a strong-willed child and believe me, it was hard going, but she thanked us in the end.  She is still strong-willed, even at 31 years old, but she has achieved great things, is multi-talented, is a great role model, leader and friend. It was worth every minute and we are very proud of her.