Most Common Bad Habits in Children

Sometimes, it is much easier to let children do certain things than going into conflict with them about it. Lenient parents are unaware of the consequences of their leniency until children begin developing bad habits. Then, it will be too hard to make them quit their bad habits. That is why, it is important to change child's behavior before it turns into a habit.

• Children sleeping in parent's bed

This is best dealt with in the early age when children are still small and easily moved to their bed after they fall asleep on parent's bed. It is important to teach your child self-confidence and avoid scary stories. It is also preferable that parents spend some time with their children before sleeping, like telling a bed time story.

• Watching TV before bed

This is one of the reasons why children sleep late. It first starts with one cartoon episode, and then ends up with never ending TV programs. When this turns into habit, children begin having sleeping problems. Try instead to give them something to read, or a bed time story.

• Drinking too much juice

For children, juice tastes much better than water. Replacing juice with water may cause serious health problems. Children should drink from 6 to 8 glasses of water a day. They should also drink natural juices but not when ever they feel thirsty.

• Ignoring personal hygiene

Like washing their hands before the meal and whenever they come from the outside, and brushing teeth after a meal and before sleeping.

• Skipping homework and other duties

All children must have duties, like cleaning their room for example. This will build up their sense of responsibility. Parents should not let their children do too much work of course. Skipping duties may become a bad habit hard to break when they grow up.