April 24, 2014

Dealing with a Strong Willed Child – Part 1

Dominique Parenting and Kids, Parenting Views less stress, Parenting, Series

Tiger girl posing for the picture

Strong Willed Children are commonly defined by having the following characteristics. They are known to be demanding, insistent, stubborn , difficult and even rebellious.

Handling a strong willed child can be a real challenge for parents. They are typically highly creative and intelligent and you really need to “burn many brain cells” trying to come up with more ingenious ideas to be able to reason with them so that they see your point of view.

Monkey boy is and overachiever while Doggie boy is a struggling learner. Tiger girl ,on the other hand, is totally different from her brothers. She has been even more challenging to deal with an is an extremely strong willed child as compared to them.

Tiger girl, being the 3rd born and a girl, is growing up faster then her brothers. I put it down to the fact that girls mature faster then boys and having two older brothers gives her ample opportunity to build up her social skills.

Having older siblings can be good but unfortunately this also means that she picks up both the good and bad from them. ( If only there is a fairy wand to wish away all the bad habits that she picked up from them it would certainly be neat!!)

Tiger girl has always had a clear idea of what she wants and goes all out to get it. She is very vocal and expressive which makes it easier for her to be understood.

She is not one to budge once she has made her decision. She may scream, shout and cry if she doesn’t get her way and it is really trying to reason with this three year old.

She can be nice as an angel one moment and in a split second turn into a shrieking hyena once she finds that the odds in the particular situation is not to her favour.

Tiger girl can kick up a fuss and complain like a drama queen for at least an hour or so if I let her be. It can be really frustrating dealing with her and trying not to give in to her wimps and fancies when you are pressed for time or have other impending issues to handle.

In the next part of this post I will be sharing with you the different techniques I have used to rein in this strong willed child of mine while at the same time giving her the space to develop at her own pace.

Post in this series

– Parenting with Less Stress ( An Introduction)

– Teaching Kids about coping with the fear of Failure (Part 1)

– Teaching Kids about coping with the fear of Failure (Part 2)

– Encouraging a Struggling Learner (Part 1)

– Encouraging a Struggling Learner (Part 2)

-Dealing with a Strong Willed Child (Part 1)

– Dealing with a Strong Willed Child( Part 2)

– An Update on Monkey Boy

April 14, 2014

Encouraging a Struggling Learner – (Part 2)

Dominique Parenting and Kids, Parenting Views less stress, Parenting, Series

Doggie boy posing for the camera

In Part 1 of this post I outlined the difficulties that Doggie boy had in learning. Focusing on using his Auditory learning skills wasn’t really working well so I needed to change my tact with him. As Doggie boy isn’t able to absorb a lot of information at one sitting I have to break it down into parts for him. A longer time frame is needed for the same amount of information to be taught.

Here is how I go about teaching him a complex subject/topic by breaking it up into a different parts ( depending on the length and complexity of the topic involved).

The Study Flow Chart

Last week I went through the times table with Doggie boy. He has to learn his 2-6 times table as they are doing times table this term. He needs to be able to memorise the times table so that he will be able to calculate and solve the mathematical questions which will be given to him in the upcoming test.

We started off with learning the 2 times table on Monday morning. On Monday night we moved on and learned the 3 times table and revised the 2 times table. On Tuesday morning I revised the 3 times table with him and we learned the 4 times table.

On Wednesday we revised his 2 to 4 times table. On Thursday we did the 5 and 6 times tables together while on Friday we revised all the times table that we have learned that week from 2 to 6.

Constant revision and learning in chunks seems to be working better for him as he can recall the information that was thought to him longer. He is also more able to apply what he has learned in different “test” situations.

To let Doggie boy have fun learning his times table I installed some Multiplication Apps on my iPad like Maths Evolve, Sushi Monster for him to try out.

Screenshot of Math’s Evolve App

Sushi Monster Screenshot

Playing these games help him practice his multiplication tables and make him count faster while having fun. It makes learning less intimidating for him . Doggie boy was not able to get every question correct on the first few tries however his speed and accuracy in solving multiplication questions has certainly improved since using this new method of learning.He is less frustrated and now even looks forward to study time with me when he comes back from school.

Using this new method of teaching him has certainly improved his confidence level in learning new things and his marks in school has improved as a result.

In the next post in this series I will be opening up to you the challenges that I currently face with my youngest – Tiger girl.