Do your kids immediately listen and obey when you ask them to do something? If not, you need to continue reading.
Kids listen when there is mutual respect between you and them. If this respect doesn’t exist, they won’t take anything you say seriously.
Below are some tips on making your kids listen and respect you.
1. Show mutual respect
If you often yell and scream at your kids to do what you ask of them, you’re taking the wrong approach because your kids would start to resent you in the long run. If you don’t respect your kids, it would be hard for them to respect you.
Don’t act like a tyrant who demands that your children do what you say because you’re the one in charge. Instead, set boundaries, respect your kids’ privacy, and set explicit rules your kids have to follow, like the chores they must do every day.
2. Don’t yell
Believe it or not, yelling only makes things worse. Yelling proves that the relationship is governed by dominance, so your kids won’t like to be around you. No child wants to feel dominated, so let your child know that you value them through calm and respectful interactions. If you often rely on yelling to make kids do what you ask, then you are admitting that you can’t control them unless you yell.
3. Don’t make big threats
Some parents are fond of making big threats thinking that the bigger the threat, the more likely the child will stop the behavior. That is not reasonable. Big threats that you never execute will make your words seem meaningless to your child, and more disrespect ensues.
Instead of saying you’ll smash your child’s phone if they don’t do what you ask (which is very unrealistic because it costs you money to purchase the phone), why don’t you take away the phone for a few days instead. When you set reasonable consequences that your child is sure you can execute, they start to listen.
