Behavioral problems in children and adolescents

Behavioral problems in children and adolescents

Child psychology and behavior develop according to the surrounding people and parenting methods and family and school atmosphere. Growing children try to learn many things simultaneously and most of the time copy the elders and parents. They just copy it without knowing the facts about the activity. they remain unaware of and good or bad impact of any activity.

Behavioral problems in children and adolescents

Its moral duty of parents and family members to behave in a good way in the  presence of children 

Many parents complain about behavioral problem stubborn nature like the shouting of children, thumb sucking, nail-biting, feeding bottle addiction, bedwetting, mobile or tv addictions  and fussy and more selective food style, fast food addiction, PICA, and breath-holding spells, etc

Children learn all these things from its surrounding atmosphere. Parents' responsibility is much more here than anything else.let us see all these problems and their solutions one by one.

Thumb sucking

This is very common among many behavior problems in children. This behavior develops in children of 6 months to 3 years of age.
It develops due to feelings of insecurity in children due to some fear, hunger and simply child do thumb sucking as a playful activity when he gets bore from other things .loneliness may also cause thumb sucking,

It may affect the teething of infants and cause skin and nail damage of thumb and lead to many infections sometimes.

The solution to this behavioral problem in children is the assurance of parents. The biggest thing in behavioral problems is better counseling. Give a child a playful atmosphere, when the child is alone and not in any activity he starts thumb sucking. Better if he gets someone to play with and parents should talk to him with eye contact and keep eye on him.

Some time repellents can be used. Many medicated repellents are also available in markets but not easily available. Homemade repellents like lemon juice can be tried. Apply it on thumb and fingers.

Stubborn nature

It usually appears below 5  years of age and the main cause is faulty parenting only. children become stubborn when parents behave extra softly toward him.

The solution to this behavioral problem in children is that parents should try to say 'NO' also.
In starting if something is refused once then be firm on the same and don't change the decision otherwise the child will learn the tactics and will behave his own way.

Uniform parenting is the only solution to this problem.

Nail-biting 

This kind of behavior problems in children and adolescents can develop at any age above 1 year of age.

This happens due to anxiety or as a part of thumb sucking. Children copy this behavior from parents and other children.

This may cause infections due to poor hygiene of nails.

The solution to this behavioral problem in children is keeping nails clean, do the trimming of nails timely to avoid infections.

Engage the child in playful activity try positive counseling.

In difficult cases use repellants like lemon juice etc.

Bed-wetting

Involuntary passage of urine during sleep after 6 years of age is termed as enuresis. This happens in deep sleep usually after 90 minutes of sleep.
The solution to this behavioral problem in children is to try to find out any organic cause if there is any organic cause then treat them first.

Minimize the emotional impact on a child, there should be no humiliation and positive reinforcement is the key to success in this case

There should be less fluid consumption before sleeping time and avoid tea coffee at least for 3 hr before sleep time.

Bladder control exercise is most useful practice in these cases

Parents can be taught the alarm system that can help. Use an alarm system to awake the child before his usual time of bedwetting, like 2 hr after sleep and especially 3 am and 5 am that is the most common time of bedwetting.

Mobile or TV addictions

This is among the new-age behavioral problems in children and adolescents. Nowadays every parent notices this behavior in their children.
Children find mobile a very addictive toy, they copy parents' behavior also and use mobile and tv instead of many toy and playful activity.
This can affect the sleep of children. The long duration of tv and mobile watching can affect the vision also.
Expert says that there should be a restriction on media exposure of child and mobile watching should not be more than 1 hour a day.
The child should be engaged in other activities like drawing, painting, planting, gardening, dancing, etc to avoid mobile addiction.parents should not use mobile in front of their children.
Internet access should also be for a limited period of time in children's mobile and parents should avoid installing any game on mobile.
Kids mode should be used in mobiles to avoid unnecessary exposure of the child to media and the internet.

Anxiety

The affected age group is 3- 10 years of age most commonly. This can be seen in adolescents age group also.

This can be of any type like overanxious disorder, school phobia, separation anxiety, social anxiety, selective mutism, etc.

This is beyond voluntary control of children and leads to avoidance of some situations.

The solution to this behavioral problem in children is counseling, psychotherapy, and education to eliminate the fear of certain situations.

the child should be taught to explore the new things to modify the perceptions and engage him in constructive activities.

Tics

The age group is 6-16 years and more common in the adolescent age group.

Child find these habits tensions reliving fo them  like lip-smacking, shoulder shrugging, tongue trusting eye blinking, spitting, etc
They remain totally unaware while doing this activity 

The solution to this behavioral problem in children is to make the child concise of his action. Some stimulant medication can cause tics behavior in children that can be avoided if used to treat certain diseases in affected children.

Breath-holding spells

The commonly affected age group is 6 month to 6 years of age.

The child starts to cry due to pain, fear, anger, etc and hold the breath for a certain period of time.

Many times this occurs due to the malnutrition of children. Iron, calcium deficiency can increase the problem.
The solution to this behavioral problem in children is parents' counseling and assurance that there will be a spontaneous resolution by the age of 5 years.

Iron and calcium supplements and a good diet help many times.

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