Nursery World - Behaviour: attention seeking

Understanding the reasons behind demanding behaviour will help you deal with it

Children seek attention in all sorts of ways and for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes, parents and childcarers have to react before they know the reason, especially if the behaviour is dangerous or threatens to upset other children. However, if the behaviour persists, it is a good idea to find out why it is occurring. Knowing the reason will help you decide how to deal with it. Typical examples of attention-seeking behaviour include:

Attention-seeking behaviour can be wearing to the point of becoming infuriating. Childcarers may be tempted to react harshly or, feeling guilty about their irritation, try to ignore it in the hope that it will stop. This might work, but the behaviour is there for a reason and will continue unless understood. To take the above examples:

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