Combating bad habits with outstanding

Attitudes and habits formed in childhood can powerfully influence ones future health. It is important that parents set good examples at home and also lead by examples, because it is one thing to set rules and another to implement them.

By educating your children and teaching them healthy habits and by following them up yourself, a lot can still be prevented.

While living and sharing your life with children is one of the most wonderful experiences for adults, it is not without its ups and downs. Children often pick up bad habits or just have not yet learned how to be discrete. The most common habits of children that parents want to tackle are: Nose picking, biting nails, thumb sucking, hair twirling or hair pulling, and many others.

Hence, imitation is part of the reasons children engage in bad habits. When it comes to bad and good habits, chances are that you are probably pretty on top of things with your children. Thumb sucking, nail biting, etc, are issues with which most parents fight when children are young. As they grow, other habits ensue, including vulgar language, drinking and smoking. All these become a bit tougher to combat as peer pressure sets in. Nevertheless, you do your best to keep bad habits at bay.

Children seem to have in-built radar when it comes to behaving badly in public, and tantrums can even become an expected and feared event. Your child always seems to choose the worst time to lose it, leaving you red-faced and humiliated.

Cordelia Sodipe, a mother and a retired pediatrician, says, “I have three grand children presently with me at home and have also helped quite a lot of families on how to cope with children’s behaviour. So, I know the ups and downs of toddlers too well.”

Cordelia says, before you try to break bad habits of your children, you must understand that habits are nothing but a strategy to cope with situations involving stress, boredom, insecurity, fatigue, and frustration or unhappiness at their wish not being fulfilled. Many of these habits, however, annoying they may be to the parents, are calming and soothing to the child. And because such habits are something that children engage in their formative years without thinking, you must not try to break them using harsh methods like reprimanding and punishing. When children are treated harshly, they tend to rebel and develop a feeling of hatred towards their parents.

Similarly, parents should try to encourage good behavior and virtue in the everyday life of their children. Also, practice together daily habits like teeth brushing, bathing and shutting off lights when leaving a room. Pointing out the importance of saying; ‘please,’ ‘excuse me,’ ‘sorry,’ ‘thank you,’ and ‘pardon me.’

Parents should therefore do their best to ensure that the personal habits, practices and routines of our children are in outstanding shape.

ANNE AGBAJE