The beginning of many behavior problems is connected to your child not being able to pay attention. This simple activity works well for fussy children over the age of 6 months. Start by holding a plain object like a ball about 18 inches away from your baby or toddler's face. If your child is preschool age, have her fixate on an item 5 to 10 feet away. Watch your child's eyes to see if she is able to fixate or if she moves her eyes from target to target. You can also have children fixate on a puzzle or coloring book. Challenge your child to focus for longer and longer periods of time, using a stopwatch to keep track.
Create a chart with two different pages for your child. One page will have the good behaviors that your child can do and the other will have the negative behaviors. Place the chart in a high-traffic area and explain it to your child. Tell him that you will place a happy face sticker on the good chart next to the good behaviors and a sad face next to the bad behaviors. If there are more happy faces than sad faces at the end of the week, your child will get a treat such as being able to pick where you go for dinner on the weekend. The younger your child is, make the prize more immediate as younger children have a hard time conceiving anything too far in the future.
If you have several rowdy children at your house or in a classroom this game can help to calm them down. Have the children sit on the furniture, floor or desks and give them a small, harmless ball to toss around. There are two ways to be eliminated in this game. Either you drop the ball or you say something. Competitive children will want to win at all costs and they will begin to quiet and calm down. Play this game as a treat every so often and your children will begin to look forward to this quiet time.
This game can be played with siblings, in a classroom or with a group of friends. Some children are predisposed to negativity and may put down their friends, parents and teachers constantly. One way to curb this trend is to have them say compliments about their friends and siblings. Have one child stand up in front of the other children. Tell the other children that they have to say one good thing about the child up front. Some younger children may have never said a compliment about a friend or a sibling before, but they will begin to understand how much better it feels than saying something negative. Rotate through all the children letting them all have a turn to be complimented.