Power Struggles: 10 Ways to Keep Things Cool

15 minute read

Article Overview

Power Struggles: 10 Ways to Keep Things Cool is an eight-page article that explores 10 ways to effectively deal with power struggles with your young child. Power struggles happen. With your young child, power struggles can happen a lot. And they often happen at the worst possible moments—when parents are tired, stressed, and in a hurry. But there are ways to avoid and even minimize power struggles. This article explores four ways to minimize power struggles before they occur and six ways to deal with power struggles in the heat of the moment.

Before-hand

1. Give Choices

2. Pick and Choose Your Battles: “Use THE BIG 3 FAMILY RULES”

3. Spend Together-Time

4. Read Books About Children Misbehaving

In-the-Heat-of-the-Moment

5. Ask “Why Not?” rather than “Why?”

6. Just Say “Oh” rather than “No”

7. Grant a Wish in Fantasy

8. Use Creative Distraction

9. Use Props

10. Use Music