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It is rather common for children to
misbehave in public places such as restaurants, movie theatres and
grocery stores.
Why Children Misbehave in Public
Parents are often reluctant to use their
normal form of discipline in the public for several reasons below:
1. Some worry about how other people will react if they use timeout
with their children in the public.
2. Others are afraid that their children will escalate their
misbehavior into a full-blown tantrum, so they avoid normal discipline
they use at home.
3. Still others do not see how timeout can be used anywhere but at home
and resort to threats and spankings.
As a result of all these, many children have learnt that grocery stores
and restaurants are places they can get their own say because their
parents will give in to avoid a scene.
Impose Time Out in Public Too
Once timeout is consistently established
at home for certain misbehavior, it is vital to impose them too when
the same misbehavior occurs in public places. This may mean
1. Leaving the grocery store to do a modified five-minute timeout in
the car or next to a wall in a car park.
2. If there is no place for a timeout, you can tell the child, “If you
don’t stop whining, then you’ll have a timeout when we get home.” You
must follow through with this as soon as you get home.
Once you have followed through once or twice at home, its effectiveness
will be increased for future use. You children will learn that the
rules apply regardless of where they are, and they’ll stop testing and
learn to behave the way you want them to.
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