What lies beneath behaviour?

Just like an iceberg, when it comes to behaviour, there's so much more going on beneath the surface.

If we only pay attention to what we see, then we're not considering the full picture.

You can't deeply understand an individual action without exploring at least some of those
things that are rumbling below the surface. In fact, what goes on underneath is what gives rise
to the behaviour that you see.

Important motivators of the behaviour of young children include their needs and their feelings.

What we don't see that influences behaviour includes things like a child's individual temperament, their emotions at the time, different sensory needs such as lighting and sound sensitivities, developmental capacity and limits, past experience that they bring into the moment, thoughts, internal sensations, executive functioning challenges that can affect planning, impulsivity, memory, physiological needs.

All of these things we don’t see, are going to give rise to what we are actually seeing above the surface.

When you start to feel challenged or frustrated by your child's behaviours, take some time to consider things on a deeper level. What could be going on below the surface?

Our online Parenting Program explores child behaviour at great length with many strategies for you to use to navigate challenging parenting situations

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