One form of discipline for children is the method of distraction.
The more methods we know, the easier it will be to educate our children.
[Edited Image]
The distraction method generally works well as a behavioral management tool, especially for young children. Diverting the interest and attention of a young child can help avoid situations that could generate behavior that we do not want.
Distraction is an effective strategy when parents anticipate a child's behavior that can be problematic. For example, it is useful when children become irritated when they sit for a long time without moving or when they share or perform an activity that can be complicated. .
The method of distraction is easy to apply. It may be enough, for example, to show something interesting or peculiar. Get a simple game none, come with simple elements to play (how to make folding with paper), or anything else that can distract or entertain a child. It is about preventing or cutting off a possible behavior that does not interest us.
Tips to apply the distraction method
As mentioned above, applying the distraction method is very simple, especially if we take into account that a large part of children's behavior is being guided by what happens in the environment external to them. Their pre-frontal wolf is still it is not fully developed, and that is why it does not yet effectively control its attentional focus, something that we can take advantage of. For that:
- Try to make the child have an alternative to the activity or stimuli that they are feeding and can generate unwanted behavior. Present a new activity, a new game or game, or even show the child something new that she can do with a toy she already has.
- Change the scenario. Place the child so that he sees different things, or changes things from place.
- It is also good that we have prepared a series of characteristics for those moments in which we find ourselves in a limited context to be able to generate a distraction.
In the case of behavior problems are older children, we can use other strategies, such as:
Change the subject of the conversation.
Present a simple game or activity that is interesting enough to get the child's attention.
Suggest something else the child can do when things are not going well, so that he can help her unlock the thought or get out of the situation.
Distraction and redirection
The method of distraction is a corrective method that is related to redirection. Redirection involves focusing the attention of children on other activities or little dangerous stimuli.
Indirectly, distraction implies reevaluating the activities that interest us as a source of good behavior. With them, we can reward children and strengthen their self-esteem. That is to say, it made them intelligent in contexts in which it is easy to get an impulse, so that these contexts, in their eyes, to attract attention.
With the method of distraction, we seek not only to completely remove the mind and energy of the child from inappropriate activity, but also to give options to redirect that energy.
Be careful not to turn the distraction into a reinforcement for negative behaviors
There is something important that you need to remember about the use of the distraction method. If you offer or plant a favorite or rewarding activity after a time when the child has made a beer or fought with someone, what you are doing (even if you do not intend) is to reward that behavior. It is best to use the distraction method to anticipate behavior, so, we will have more alternatives.
There are times when you may not want to cut a rabbi or challenge for the child to discover that certain activities are always unacceptable. In these cases, distraction is not the best method of discipline.
In this sense, the ideal is to combine intelligence with different education and discipline strategies, so that in each context we can, with our intervention, have the intention. In that sense, the more discipline tools we know, the better. In fact, the more we depend on a single discipline method, the less effective it becomes.
So when using the distraction method, pay close attention to the child's reaction. And do not forget to be as consistent as possible in your application, in addition to being flexible and applying another if you discover that that method is not working.
The method of distraction as an alternative to corporal punishment
A study published in 2010 by Gershoff and his colleagues explain that most of their research in the discipline focused on the use of corporal punishment by parents. The most likely reason for this fixation of research topic is that the punishment body is a very controversial way of imposing discipline.
However, corporal punishment is one of the many educational techniques that parents use to try to control their children's negative behavior and promote positive behavior. Although there is a great variation in its use, some parents use almost every day, while others never use it.
However, in a longitudinal study published in 2007 on the subject, involving 10 different education techniques, corporal punishment was one of the three less common techniques used by parents of preschool children. The most common were controlling child behavior, talking with children, distracting and modeling.