5 minutes
If you want to correct inappropriate behavior of your children or eliminate bad habits, overcorrection can help you. We tell you how to apply this technique.
In the education of children many doubts and conflicts can arise regarding how to act. You want to teach them what is right, show them the right way, and for that, sometimes you have to correct their behavior. But how to do it? Well, the overcorrection technique can become an excellent option in these cases.
Fortunately, the latest generations of parents disagree with any punishment that harms the physical or psychological integrity of their children. However, by giving up these authoritarian styles, they sometimes find themselves without alternatives to educate.
The reality is that there are very effective tools that do no harm to children and that you can implement on a day-to-day basis. Discover one of them below.
What is overcorrection?
overcorrection It is a behavior modification technique. derived from behaviorism. According to this psychological current, all behavior is maintained, increases or disappears depending on the consequences that follow it. Thus, if you want a child to stop behaving in a certain way, that behavior must be followed by a negative consequence.
Physical punishment, threats or humiliation are not valid alternatives in any case, since they do not educate and cause great damage. However, not just any consequence will do. It is essential that this is closely related and linked to misbehavior of the child.
For example, if your son has painted a wall and you punish him without watching television, this does not make any sense. Due to the lack of natural connection between both events, he will hardly establish a relationship and learn a valuable lesson about it. In this case, a consistent consequence would be having to clean the paint off the wall with your own hands.
In this case, the overcorrection technique goes one step further and “exaggerates” or extends the consequence so that the learning is greater and more effective. Continuing with the previous example, the overcorrection would make the child not only clean the graffiti on the wall, but also clean all the walls in the room.
How does it apply?
As you can see, it is a totally innocuous technique, which does not harm the little one in any way and, in addition, helps him to learn in a natural way and related to his behavior. However, exist two forms different from applying the overcorrection; Depending on the specific circumstances, you can choose the one that best suits your needs.
Restorative overcorrection
In this case, seeks to restitute or repair the damage caused for inappropriate behavior. The example mentioned above would fall into this category: by cleaning the wall, the child repairs the material damage and contributes something else. That is, he leaves the environment better than he found it.
Another valid example could be given in the event that the minor broke a porcelain vase. In this case, you might be asked to repair it by gluing the broken pieces together and also giving it a coat of varnish or paint.
Positive Practice Overcorrection
There is another modality that can be used when no damage has been caused that can be repaired or when you want to establish the appropriate behavior in greater depth. In this case, the child is asked to Practice the appropriate behavior several times in a row.
For example, imagine that your child after taking a shower has left the towel lying on the floor instead of putting it on the hanger. In this case, you can ask him to pick up the towel and hang it up, and then take it down and put it back a few more times.
Advantages and disadvantages
This technique can be used to correct children’s inappropriate behaviors and to change their bad habits. Also, it is effective for eliminate self-stimulatory behaviors and nervous habits, and reduce aggressive behaviors. It is a very useful tool that brings several advantages:
- It allows clearly indicate what the inappropriate behavior is
- As the consequence has a direct relationship with the behavior, learning is more effective
- The child can restitute the damage caused, which teaches you to take charge of your actions and mistakes
- Allows you to learn and practice positive behavior and alternative. In this way, you not only point out the wrong thing, but also propose a solution and a correct way to proceed in future occasions.
Actually, overcorrection has few disadvantages. It is a technique that does not cause humiliation, damage or resentment in the child; likewise, it allows him to feel useful and to be recognized for subsequent good behavior. But nevertheless, it is important for parents to be firm and constant in your app.
After all, it is still a punishment (that is, a consequence that is negative and unappetizing for the child). A) Yes, it is normal for him to resist complying with it, to show anger or tears. It is essential not to give in to these refusals, because otherwise the minor will understand that he can get rid of the consequences and no positive learning will take place.
Overcorrection is not revenge
Finally, it is important to remember that by overcorrecting you are trying to teach the child an appropriate way to behave, but you are not taking revenge because of their misbehavior. TOHe will proceed, you must not do it with anger, with reproaches or threatsbut with calm and empathy.
You have to make the child see that you understand that he is angry about having to serve the “punishment”, but that he still has to do it and you will be at his side to accompany him. You can even perform the action with him to act as a model and show you how it’s done. In this way, you will show him that there is nothing negative or shameful in the consequence that you have imposed; which is just a way of learning.
If you are constant in the application of this technique, you can obtain very good results without damaging the relationship with the child. Therefore, do not hesitate to put it into practice from today.
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