October-Power Struggles

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October- Power Struggles

Power struggles with preschool age students can be difficult but they are a positive sign developmentally. This means that children are gaining thoughts, desires, and opinions that are different from adults.  Learning to be assertive is a great skill to have, but children need to be taught that they still have to follow the rules. Have your child or a child you work with seemed to challenge everything you present them? This is a child’s way of testing and learning from their environment. While this can be very frustrating to adults it is good for children to experience developmentally. Here are are a few strategies you can try at home.
  1. Be clear and consistent. If you ask your child to clean up their toys before you put on a movie then you need to stick with it! The follow through here is very important no matter how much crying may occur. If you hold strong here each time this happens the crying will be less and less.
  2. Do not make unreasonable threats. If your child is not being compliant and you respond by saying you are taking away their tablet, then you need to take it away. Never assign a consequence you cannot follow through with. This will only create trust issues later down the line.
  3. Acknowledge your child’s feelings. Modeling the behavior you want them to comply with while discussing their feelings creates a positive understanding of the demand. If you need your child to clean up their toys before you put on a movie and your child is upset, respond by saying “ I know you are upset but we have to clean up our toys so no one steps on them. Let me help you so we can watch our movie, I have been looking forward to watching this one!”


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