Parents often struggle to understand why their teens do not listen to them and misbehave. Kids use their behaviour as a medium to communicate what they are thinking and how they are feeling. We have listed here 10 common reasons why children misbehave. This can help the parents to understand the root cause of their kids’ behaviour and how they can reduce or eliminate it by adopting the suggested solutions.

1. They are copying others

Children learn from what they see. They learn to behave by watching others, especially their parents. Kids will repeat and try to copy what they see at home or if they’ve seen any peer misbehaving at school.

Parents can handle this situation by behaving properly in front of their children. Teach your kids the appropriate way to behave in different situations and limit their exposure to TV showing aggressive behaviour.

2. They want independence

Children learn to do many things their own and want to show their skills by doing it independently. They become more aggressive and argumentative in such situation and start misbehaving.

Provide your child with appropriate choices so that they feel that they have their control on life in a positive way.

3. They seek attention

Children often feel left out when their parents get occupied with their friends or family or are busy talking on the phone. To get their attention, they start whining, throwing tantrums or hitting a sibling.

Ignore the negative behaviour if your child and appreciate their positive behaviour in order to deal with their attention-seeking behaviour.

4. They lack skills

Misbehaviour may also result due to lack of skills. A lack of problem-solving skills in a child may result in not cleaning his room as he does not know what to do if the toys do not fit in the toy box. Similarly, a child lacking social skills can hit another child so that he can play with the toy.

Teach your child about the alternatives to misbehaviour instead of telling him about the consequences. This way he can learn from his mistakes.

5. They fail to control emotions

Kids do not know what to do about their emotions. They can easily become overwhelmed or aggressive when they are angry, bored, stressed or excited.

Parents need to teach their kids what to do when they feel disappointed, sad or frustrated. Teach them the healthy ways to manage their emotions and not to misbehave.

6. They test limits

When parents establish any rule and kids are told not to do anything specific, they want to check if their parents are serious or not. Kids often test the limits and want to see their parents’ reaction when they break the rules.

Set clear limits for your child and tell them about negative consequences they will receive when they break rule every time. This way they start becoming more compliant.

7. They want power and control

Often power and control results in misbehaviour. When a child tries to regain some control over a situation, they tend to show argumentative behaviour.

An effective way to deal with this issue is by giving two choices to the kids to avoid power struggle. This way they can have some control over the situation and reduce lots of arguments. They will follow the instructions too.

8. Their basic needs are not met

When children have unmet needs like feeling sleepy, hungry or ill, they are likely to misbehave, throw tantrums or cry.

Parents can prevent this behaviour by setting a routine in which the child sleeps, eats and plays.

9. Mental Health Issues

Sometimes misbehaviour can be caused due to any underlying mental health issues in the kids like depression or anxiety.

If you feel your child has any underlying development disorder or behavioural issue, consult with a trained mental health professional.

10. Misbehaviour is effective

A simple reason why children misbehave is because it helps them to get what they want. If the parents give them what they want, they will feel that misbehave works.

Make sure the misbehaviour of children is not rewarded. Bending down in front of them when they cry or shout will make them used to breaking the rules every time in their life.