No matter how “good” or well-behaved your child may be, at times they will exhibit bad behaviors. Rather than put all your focus on these negative spells, the best way to mold your child’s conduct is to reinforce their positive behavior as often as possible. Preschool age is the perfect time to start this effort. Let’s take a closer look at some of the important things you can do to help your preschooler learn and practice good behavior and values.

Be A Positive Role Model

In many ways, young children are just imitators of the adults in their lives. If you want to encourage your child to learn good behavior, you need to be a good example of it. Show it and explain it, as the following piece details:

Use your own behaviour to guide your child. Your child watches you to get clues on how to behave – and what you do is often much more important than what you say. For example, if you want your child to say ‘please’, say it yourself. If you don’t want your child to raise their voice, speak quietly and gently yourself…

Telling your child honestly how their behaviour affects you helps your child see their own feelings in yours. And if you start sentences with ‘I’, it gives your child the chance to see things from your perspective. For example, ‘I’m feeling upset because there’s so much noise and I can’t talk on the phone’. Read more at Raising Children…

Don’t underestimate just how much your child understands your communication. Even your non-verbal cues can pass on tons of information, whether you are happy or otherwise.

Be Attentive

As you work to encourage proper conduct, it’s okay to acknowledge both good and bad behavior. Just be sure that your spotlight remains firmly on the former to purposely diminish the latter. Read more below.

Positive attention is the best reward. Ignoring a child’s effort is one mistake some parents make, and when you are getting home from work, trying to get dinner on the table, it’s easy to miss this. Time it – a minute may be all it takes to review a worksheet, admire a picture or ask a question about a quiz.

Praise the process rather than the result. If a child shows you a tower of blocks that has taken them some time to build, the parent should praise the child with expressions like, “Look at the effort you put into that!” “Good job” rather than “What a beautiful tower.” The same should apply when a child brings home schoolwork. Read more at Smartick…

For many children, the clearest signifier of love is time. When you spend time with your youngsters, take notice of what they do and consistently praise the good stuff. You may do more to reinforce positive behavior by being present than through any other means.

Teach Your Child Principled Values

Along with instilling good behavior in your child, it’s equally vital to help them develop honorable values. When children are guided by positive values, they display good character. This kind of integrity will serve them well in situations monumental and minute throughout their lives. Take a look at the piece below for a deeper dive:

Imbibing moral values in a child will have the following positive effects.

  • Helps build a positive character with traits such as compassion, respect, kindness, and humility.
  • Makes the child distinguish between right and wrong or good and bad. It can eventually promote rational thinking and unbiased judgment.
  • Provides a perspective that shapes attitudes and beliefs towards various aspects of life.
  • Boosts their self-confidence and helps them stay positive even in difficult situations.
  • Allows children to channelize their energies in the right direction. Read more at Mom Junction…

When it comes to molding your child’s behavior and values, surrounding them with people who prize and promote the same characteristics will prove invaluable. The preschool you enroll your child in can impart lessons that guide them for years to come. Be sure those lessons are the ones you want spotlighted. At Spanish For Fun!, we combine the loving care your child needs with immersive Spanish language education, cultural learning and lots of fun to create the ideal environment for good behavior reinforcement and character building.

Get in touch with us today to schedule a tour of any of our four campuses, two are located in Raleigh, one is in Cary and the other is in Wake Forest. Call 919-881-1160 or complete the contact form on our website to set your appointment. We look forward to showing you why your child will thrive with us.