Tag: Stop Roughhousing

Young children aren’t the gentlest of creatures. They are often loud, energetic, and rambunctious, creating a lot more chaos than there is calm. Roughhousing can be a particularly difficult problem to handle, as you want your children to have fun. Still, you don’t want them to hurt themselves or others.  

It’s important to teach your kids how to play gently and stop roughhousing before someone gets hurt. Here’s how: 

Demonstrate gentleness with a doll or stuffed animal 

Dolls, stuffed animals, and other toys can be excellent tools for teaching your children how to be gentle. For example, you can use dolls or stuffed animals to show your children how to hold a new pet or baby sibling properly. This hands-on approach is more effective than simply telling your children to be careful. It actually demonstrates how they can be careful.  

Model good behavior yourself 

Children learn behavior by watching their parents. If their parents are calm and kind, their kids will copy their mild behavior. Conversely, if parents are loud and irritable, their kids will replicate it and start showing signs of aggressive behavior. If you want children to be gentler, then you need to model that behavior yourself.  

Praise good behavior 

When it comes to our children, positive reinforcement is more effective than harsh punishments. If your child starts roughhousing, don’t scream at them to stop. Instead, you can offer other ways to play with their toys, siblings, or pets. Then, when they do start modeling gentle behavior, praise them for their efforts to further encourage them.  

Here at The Zoo Factory, we have plenty of stuffable animals that can help teach your children to stop roughhousing. Look through our website to get started!