Kids are prone to misbehavior’s and that’s a fact. More often than not, kids give their excuses for their misdemeanors, claiming that it was somebody else’s fault and not theirs. Reasoning out is normal but if the child turns out to be habitual excuser, well, that’s something that should be remedied on. As parent, you should take measures to shape up your child in his best abilities that he can use as an adult. Here are some tips on how to encourage your child into taking responsibility for his misbehavior:
- Maintain the calm and avoid the argument. Okay, he keeps on reasoning out. Let him rattle his excuses…for a while. Then, calmly talk to him, maintaining eye contact and serious demeanor. Point out his mistake and give him a recall of the scenario. Tell him that his excuses are not a guarantee to make him not liable for his own misbehavior.
- Teach him the difference between an explanation and an excuse. Give simple examples when differentiating the two words. For example, an explanation can be like this: You can’t join your PE class because your stomach truly hurts. An excuse can be something like: You can’t join PE because your mother told you to avoid getting sweaty. Moreover, explain to your child that an explanation helps others to understand a certain condition and admits responsibility for whatever negative effect one had caused. On the other hand, an excuse only puts blame onto others and is merely given to redeem oneself at the cost of others.
- Teach your child how to troubleshoot his problems. Emphasize to him the responsibility of each choice he is about to make, giving light to every positive aspect on how to deal whatever condition he may be in.
- Teach your child the positive side of learning from mistakes. Given that he has committed his own set of errors, tell him that it’s fine as long as he knows it, takes responsibility for it, and learns from it. We adults make the clichéd excuse of being “simply human.” Is that a liable excuse? Remember that as humans we are given a higher responsibility, hence we must learn in every situation we may be in.
