He is calmly playing with his doll and, suddenly, upon seeing the toy that another child enjoys, he wants to get it no matter what. Or walking down the street she sees something in the window that catches her attention and she won't leave there without having it. These are some of the scenarios that grandparents with wayward grandchildren are accustomed to. That is, children who demand to receive certain objects, benefits or treatment and who will resort to tantrums, anger and crying in order to get it. Because they are used to always getting what they want. And their grandparents have to deal with it.
However, allowing and perpetuating this behavior will only bring negative consequences to minors, who will suffer from a low tolerance for frustration, thus making it difficult for them to progress towards adulthood. After all, a whim is one thing and a need is quite another. Therefore, grandparents must cling to this premise when managing the situations that their capricious grandchildren will cause.
One of the main differences between parents and grandparents is that the former can be much more firm and blunt with their children, since they are the ones who largely establish the education in values and principles and the behavior expected of minors. For their part, grandparents can only follow this path and respect it, since they also tend to be more indulgent and complicit with their grandchildren. However, it is important not to collaborate in their whims.
It is not strange that children present this type of behavior; on the contrary, it is part of their development and growth, since they must learn to deal with frustration and distinguish what is a whim and what is necessary. And how to act in these types of circumstances.
To help them on this path it is necessary to establish a series of limits, something that must be done in collaboration with the child's parents. Since the idea is to determine common rules that are cohesive and do not give rise to contradictions that confuse the child. In this way, both parents and grandparents will act in the same way and it will be easier to deal with the child's whims.
A very effective trick to deal with a grandchild who is committed to his whim has to do with offering him some type of alternative that will make him distract himself and forget that first whim on which he was focused. For example, play some activity with him and go to the park so you can have a great time. The objective is for him to focus on that other thing and completely forget what the whim was that he wanted to achieve no matter what.
