Understanding Problematic Behavior

Problematic behavior in children is often not a result of willful defiance but rather stems from unmet expectations. This paradigm shift emphasizes that a child's difficulty in meeting certain behavioral expectations is linked to underlying unsolved problems. For example, a child may struggle to get off a gaming console not due to a lack of discipline but because of deeper issues like frustration tolerance or adaptability. Understanding this dynamic allows caregivers to focus on identifying and solving the unsolved problems instead of merely reacting to the resulting behaviors.