Children are different from adults in many ways, they are currently learning about the world, which involves making a lot of mistakes that they can then learn from about whether they are good or bad things to do.
Furthermore, children do not fully understand the consequences of their actions such as the problems and emotional or physical hurt that they can cause to people with the younger that the children are the less their awareness of their actions will be.
In this article, we will be taking a look at the pranks of children and how to react to them correctly?
Accept That Children Will Be Children.
It is unrealistic and not good for you and your children’s mutual relationship to expect them to be mature, as after all they are children and there is nothing you can do about that. It is a natural process of life where all people have behaved in an immature way, which is very natural as your children lack the knowledge of what is truly good and bad.
Regardless of that you still need to discipline your children, you cannot let them run around your home and do whatever they want as this will just result in pure chaos that will only get worse as your children get older since they will lack the etiquette that needs to be built up and enforced overtime.
Stupid and innocent pranks will be part of it; often you as a parent or an adult in the family will not be directly involved in the prank, however, you will likely find out of the consequences which can be broken furniture or windows, for example.
Set Boundaries.
Boundaries are particularly important in order to find the right balance between freedom and the necessary rule of law inside your household for your children to make sure that your family can be productive, the health and safety of your children as well as preparing your children for the real world where they will have to meet various standards and follow certain rules.
These boundaries need to be clearly outlined by you and the other adults that are in charge of the family, so your children understand what they are and thus what not to do and what they can do.
Additionally, an important part of discipline is laying out the punishment that will be enforced when certain rules are broken, punishments are key for children in order for them to be able to associate certain actions as being bad as well as understanding that bad actions in life carry often unwanted consequences.
Be Consistent With What You Say and Do.
Rules do not just apply to your children, but apply to everyone or at least to all of the children in the same age group, for example, you cannot let one of your children to not clean their room while making the other children do so. However, some deviation in the rules is allowed, a good example is that there is no need for you to make your teenage child go to sleep at 8 pm like your younger children.
The consistency is also required by you, if you are telling off your children for swearing or walking around the home with their muddy shoes then you as an adult should set an example and not do it either yourself, a lot of adults out there tend to break the rules that they want their own children to follow since there is no one to tell them off and hold them accountable which means that your children will see this and will stop to take your requests seriously.
Never Get Physical.
One of the biggest points that need to be addressed when looking at the question of pranks of children and how to react to them correctly is to never get physical with your children.
Apart from the fact that using physical force on your kids is banned in many countries around the world which can see you get criminally prosecuted and have your kids taken away from you, even if that is not currently the case where you live it is not a good precedent to allow.
Your children need to know why what they are doing is bad rather than being scared of their parents, additionally, it will damage the relationship you have with your children as they will be less likely to confide in you when they are in trouble or have anxiety over something which can only be detrimental.
Not Everything Is That Serious.
You should not take everything that seriously as a parent, it is okay to have a laugh if you find something funny and if you use your common sense to decide that it is actually not that big of a deal.
If for example, your children decide to turn the living room into a toy fort then you should take everything into account, as long as they have not caused any damage and have not continued to do this despite the objections of adult family members then it is not a very big deal.
Generally, you need to be more lenient when it is the first time that a particular event can happen; in such cases you should respond calmly and tell your children what the problem is which is something that we will discuss further in the point below.
Explain to Them Why You Are Unhappy.
No matter how young your children are, as long as they have the ability to pull pranks on other people then they can be spoken to and can understand what the issues are around their pranks and other forms of behavior.
It is important to be perfectly honest and talk to your children in the same way that you will talk to an adult and then if there are any things that they do not happen to understand then you can try and explain to them in more simple terms.
This is a very important step as your children should not associate actions that you disapprove of with fear or punishment, but instead fully understand why they should not do them and that you actually want what is best for them instead of being some stingy boring person that is trying to stop them from having fun.
Children Look for a Reaction.
Pranks of children and how to react to them correctly it is key to recognize that all children are looking for a reaction, especially from their parents and the other adults that may be in the family such as older siblings and grandparents.
Your younger children will be getting constant reactions from their young siblings and other children that they interact with as children are more immature and react much more easily when prompted while adults are generally the opposite with a better poker face.
When children do pranks or are naughty in other ways, then this can simply be a cry for attention that can be tackled by simply spending more time with your children for a few hours every day or as much as possible.
Also read the article: Why Do Children Want to Become Adults Faster?
