By applying this simple tip, parents manage to keep their calm if their child behaves badly.
All parents, without exception, have already experienced this kind of situation one day: your child pushes you to the end, you try to stay calm, but he ends up making you crack. Result: either you cry at nervousness, howl or punish it with excess, without even realizing it. If you recognize yourself in this scheme, rest assured, you are not alone. Better yet, there is a strategy to keep your calm, whatever happens.
Indeed, an American psychologist for children, Dr. Jordana Mortimer, has developed an effective tip for both parents. She named it “Tap in, Tap Out”, which does not really have a French translation. As we can see in the explanatory video at the head of the article, the idea is simple: when one parent feels that the other loses patience in the face of their child’s difficult behavior, he taps her shoulder. This allows the parent to leave the room while the other takes over to try to appease the situation.
This apparently banal gesture allows the parent who is about to get upset to mark a break, and bring down his own emotions. According to the psychologist, this method is ideal when a parent is overwhelmed by his emotions and struggles to manage the behavior of his child. To apply this technique, you must first define a non -verbal signal, unknown to children, to indicate that it is time that the other parent takes over. This can be a hand placed on the shoulder, on the arm or a small caress on the hand.
Once the signal is chosen, it is essential that the two parents agree on a key point: not feel upset if the other parent intervenes. In addition, the parent who takes over must commit to appease things and not to get the situation. This approach allows parents to face together and prevent the situation from degenerating. And if you are a single mother or father, the expert advises to take a break at the time to appease the annoyance peak and thus take a step back to approach the problem with her child.