Children act out all the time and much to many parents’ surprise, the behavior is completely normal. From as early as the second year to the teenage years, aggressive behavior is often the product of an underlying problem.
These problems can be anything, ranging from hunger and sleepiness to struggling in school or dealing with a traumatic event.
Understanding the Acting-Out Behavior
To differentiate between the normal behavior from the one that requires special attention, we need to take a look at the characteristic of acting out behavior—in children in school-going age. This includes: Aggressive behavior: If the aggressive behavior goes beyond small outbursts and your child engages in damaging of property or their environment, it’s a warning sign. Defiance: If the child is intentionally not listening to your instructions and instead carrying out activities that cause further disruption, it’s a warning sign. Temper Tantrums: If your child has emotional and aggressive outbursts all the time, you may need to consider an intervention. Oppositional Behavior: Your child actively lies to you and blames you or others for their mistakes and problems in daily life. Other warning signs include constant restlessness, acting out-of-place and inappropriately to the environment, disregard for implemented discipline strategies, poor performance at school, falling out with friends and physical aggression toward peers, self-harm and lack of empathy.