Understanding children

Rudolf Dreikurs writes in the book 'Children: The Challenge' about the importance of understanding our children before we react to their behaviour.

"... all human behaviour has a purpose and is a movement towards a goal. Sometimes we know what the purpose of an act is - sometimes we don't. All of us have had the experience of saying to ourselves "now what in the world made me do that?" Our puzzlement is justified. We were acting for a reason that lies hidden from our conscious awareness"

"The same is true for our children. If we want to help a child change her direction, we must understand what makes her move"

"We can only induce her to behave differently by changing her motivation"

from the book 'Children: The Challenge' by Rudolf Dreikurs & Vicki Soltz