The Spoiled Child.

Hello reader friend, I recently took my 6-year-old granddaughter to a playground near my house. She took one of those brightly colored balls with her. There in the park, several children were playing. They are all neighbors of the same street where we live. There was also Isabel, a 5-year-old girl, she and my granddaughter have played on other occasions. But we always have problems because of Isabel's tantrums.  

In the park, everyone wanted to play with my granddaughter. She is happy, because she always likes to be surrounded by other children to play with. The thing was that Isabel when the ball was thrown to her, she didn't want to throw the ball again. She only wanted it for herself. When my granddaughter took the ball away from her she started to cry and scream so much that my granddaughter gave the ball back to her. This is not the first time Isabel has exhibited tantrum behavior in public. Her mother on several occasions when she goes to the park has said that Isabel has a difficult temper almost all the time, is disobedient, throws tantrums, generally misbehaves.  The mother says that always, at home or in public, Isabel makes her cranky. She has often chosen not to go out to the park, because she is embarrassed by other children's parents.

From unsplash

Isabel has all the characteristics of a spoiled child. You may ask, dear reader, how can you identify a spoiled child?  Let's analyze Isabel's behavior, and then you will know if at home you also observe these behaviors in your young children. Sometimes, without realizing it, we as parents are the ones who encourage spoiled behavior in children, when they receive everything they want, without limits, either because we are busy with household chores or because we have no patience in creating habits and responsibilities in the child. And for the easy thing, we grant everything the child wants, without limits.    

Let's go back to Isabel, I have observed that whenever she goes to the park she always has problems to play, she does not share the toys she takes with her and she wants to take other children's toys, she throws tantrums when she does not get what she wants. Her mother has to ask her several times to share or return other children's toys, but Isabel ignores her, she does not listen to her mother. Isabel, through her crying, controls her mother, and it is obvious that she is embarrassed at these moments, and she almost always takes the child back home because of this behavior. The mother is in a bad mood and the child is crying, screaming.

Now reader friend, if you have thought that with your children at home they have something similar to Isabel's behavior, you may ask yourself, how can I correct it? Remember that you, as a parent, are the person in charge of the upbringing and education of your children. When that education is not done well, is done without limits, the consequences are to have spoiled children. We must be clear on this point, the child is not born spoiled, the child becomes spoiled at home.  

From unsplash

The first thing we must do is to identify the spoiled behaviors in the child, as we did with Isabel. It is important not to label the child as spoiled, avoid doing that, neither at home nor in public, and much less say it in front of the child. You must begin to apply changes in your child's behavior at home, apply firm, coherent rules and norms, appropriate to the child's age, that have consequences if they are broken by them. You have to be firm with those rules from an authority, but above all from love. Never forget that when you apply behavioral changes you must do it with patience, behavioral changes take time, and explain to your child that what he is doing is not right.  If your child throws tantrums at home or in public, do not give in to that behavior, do not let yourself be manipulated, ignore the tantrum, he will get tired of doing it, and will realize with time that he has lost that power over you. Do not overprotect your child, let him face the small difficulties that are normal for every child when playing or sharing with others. You must always remember that you must educate from authority, with love and affection, you must give him an education rich in values and responsibilities.

The word in God is clear about the spoiled child.  "The rod and correction give wisdom, but a spoiled child puts his mother to shame". Do not allow this to happen in your home, do not allow your child to manipulate, do not allow yourself to be embarrassed in public, remember, educate with authority, above all with wisdom, educate with love.

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