Parents’ Perspectives: How They Use Behavior Modification Techniques With Toddlers Aged 1-3

Role-models, most often parents, are vital in the process of teaching children how to communicate and resolve conflicts. Children, specifically toddlers just learning to speak, may present unique disciplining challenges. This study examined the various methods of conflict management strategies parents use to try and change their toddler children’s behaviors. The main parental strategies studied include: verbal, imitative, physical, and no-action. Using a snowball sampling approach, 28 men and women participants were interviewed. The findings show that parents most often used verbal or imitative techniques to discipline their children. However an overwhelming majority agreed that verbal techniques do not work as well as imitative methods in encouraging the retention of desired behavior. Most parents agreed that their toddler did not comprehend the words but grasped the tone, thereby changing the child’s actions in the short-term but not retaining the behavioral suggestion on a long-term basis