Calm Parenting Podcast - 3 Easy Ways to Change Your Child’s Behavior Quickly (Discipline That Works!) #461

Episode Date: March 23, 2025

3 Easy Ways to Change Your Child’s Behavior Quickly (Discipline That Works!) #461 What is one easy way to change your kids’ behavior that has nothing to do with changing them? How can you teach your kids impulse control and delayed gratification? Want to replace behavior charts with a tool that will get to the root of the behavior? Kirk shares over a dozen practical strategies you can begin ASAP to change your family. These ideas are from the updated Discipline That Works program, part of the Get Everything Package now 50% OFF with our Spring Sale at https://celebratecalm.com/products AG1 AG1 is offering new subscribers a FREE $76 gift when you sign up. You’ll get a Welcome Kit, a bottle of D3 & K2 AND 5 free travel packs in your first box. Go to https://drinkag1.com/calm HAPPY MAMMOTH Get 15% off on your entire first order at https://HappyMammoth.com with the code CALM at checkout.  ONE SKIN Go to https://oneskin.co and use code KIRK at checkout for an exclusive 15% off your first purchase. COZY EARTH Wrap yourself and your kids in Cozy Earth luxury…with 40% OFF! Visit https://cozyearth.com/ and use my exclusive 40% off code CALM.  HUNGRYROOT Get 40% off your first box PLUS get a free item in every box for life. Go to https://hungryroot.com/ and use code CALM. IXL LEARNING Get an exclusive 20% off an IXL membership when you sign up today at https://IXL.com/KIRK. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Visit IXL.com slash Kirk to get the most effective learning program at the best price. I cannot imagine feeling irritable or tired all the time, not to mention not sleeping well because of night sweats and hormonal changes. But lots of women live like that. Well let's not do that anymore moms. Check out HappyMammoth.com and use code CALm to get 15% off your first order of all natural products like Hormone Harmony, the number one hormone balancing system in the US. Hormone Harmony contains science-backed herbal extracts called adaptogens that help the body

adapt to stressors like chaotic hormonal changes. Hormone Harmony improves sleep quality and mood and promotes healthy weight loss while it curbs carb cravings. The biggest benefit? I feel like myself again. That's what women say over and over in 30,000 reviews of hormone harmony. It's time to feel like yourself again moms. For a limited time you can get 15% off your entire first order at HappyMammoth.com with the code CALM at checkout. That's HappyMammoth.com with the code CALM. What is one easy way to change your child's behavior that has nothing to do with changing them? It's kind of nice to have an easy one, isn't it, moms and dads?

How many of you have found that behavior charts just don't work? So do you want a better idea? Because obviously I've got one, otherwise I wouldn't be doing this episode or asking that question. And how can you teach kids impulse control in practical ways?

That is what we're going to discuss on today's episode of the Calm Parenting Podcast. So welcome, this is Kirk Martin, founder of Celebrate Calm. You can find us in our big spring sale, 50% off all of our programs. And that includes, the big package includes the updated discipline that works program. And I'm gonna kind of pull some ideas from that today.

So you can find that at celebratecalm.com. So here's the first one. I wanna give you something easy that at CelebrateCallum.com. So here's the first one. I want to give you something easy to do that works really well. It's easy, but sometimes it's really hard for us as parents to do. I want you to simply affirm your kids for what they are already doing well without adding but. You know, good job with that but if you would just apply yourself you would be capable of so much more. This is more important than you may realize with strong will kids. They tend to shut down with any negativity so

notice what they're already doing well. Just observe and recognize it. I promise if you do this it will be highly motivating to your kids. You know, I struggled with this because my dad was kind of that hardcore old school authoritarian military career military guy who just kind of like tears you down. And I thought, well, if I start if I start recognizing my son's gifts or what he's good at doing his good choices, he's gonna get soft. You know what I found? He actually's gifts or what he's good at doing is good choices. He's gonna get soft You know what I found he actually worked harder because what he knew is oh, I can actually please you You do notice what I'm doing

Well without giving me a lecture about how I could work harder and if I just buckled down it was really interesting So they'll work harder for you because they do want to please you they do crave that positive recognition They just usually feel like nothing is good enough for you So do this but just don't add the other destructive part of it now. I want you to do with Specifics I want you to be very very specific. This is not fake praise, general praise. Oh, you're such a great kid. Oh, you're so smart.

And here's the other thing. I tend to go very low-key with my praise of strong willed kids. I don't say, oh my gosh, you made such a good choice, because it sounds fake and condescending. It's like we're saying, I never thought you'd actually make a good choice, and you just did. Let's have a party. And your kids kids shut down because now that feels like a lot of pressure to them And so they resist it or like no no I didn't make a good choice because now you're going to expect me to do that again

And my my experience is that I'm not always that awesome at doing those things and the other thing I'll throw out there is that praise and an apology are the same basic thing. They're simply an acknowledgement of the truth. Oh, yeah, you did a good job with that. Hey, I'm sorry. I lecture too much. That's just truth and you're speaking truth. So here are some examples of very specific praise.

Hey, when your sister looked at you said that to you, you walked away. Shows me you're growing up. Hey, I noticed you lost at you, said that to you, you walked away. It shows me you're growing up. Hey, I noticed you lost at the board game earlier. I heard you start to complain, but then you caught yourself and said, good game to your brother. Man, a lot of adults can't even do that. Proud of you. Hey, I knew you took that money off the counter, but later you brought it back and apologized.

It's a mature way to handle it. See the tone in here? There's also an expectation of like, yeah, you know the right thing to mature way to handle it. See the tone in here? There's also an expectation of like, yeah, you know the right thing to do and you did it. I heard you playing video games with your friends and it sounds like you're a leader when you're playing. I heard you sticking up for your teammates. It's a really great quality. Hey, the Henderson's down the street. Stop me on the way home to tell me how great a kid you are that you stopped by to check on them the other day and help Mr. Henderson by taking out his trash. It's just awesome.

Hey, I heard you apologize to your mom earlier. A lot of grown-ups can't, won't even admit their mistakes. It's really mature of you. Hey, nice job on the math test. Math test? Fist bump. That's it. I'm really proud of the choices you've made with your friends the other night. Tells me I can trust you with more freedom. And you can bring up things that they're good at. Hey, you know what? Ever since you were a little kid, man, you've been good at seeing patterns. You just get puzzles out and you just put that puzzle together. You get Lego building sets out. You didn't even read their directions. You could kind of picture it in your brain and you put it together. I've always been amazed by that and that's it and you can kind of like walk out of the room. Don't you just plant a lot of little seeds. I always my number one

challenge to men when I'm working with dads is for the next week simply recognize every good trait in your child and every good choice they make. That's it for one week. And then tell me how their attitude and behavior changes because it will. You know, tell me what child would not rather live up to high expectations than down to low ones. Be a prophet of promise, not doom. Watch the words you speak over your child. Do not assume that the child who is nine today

or four or 12 will be the same when he's 19 or 29 or 13 or 39. They grow up immature so don't say things like, oh you've always been so lazy, you're never on time. These become self-fulfilling prophecies and you're kind of dooming their past, present, and future, right? Because after all if I'm always late why should I even change now? So you start to say things, hey, you're becoming a really responsible young man or young lady. Hey, you're gonna have a great life.

So here's a challenge. Most of our kids hear 10 negative comments for every one positive affirming statement. So retip the balance of the scales. I'll give you a challenge. Try spending an entire evening or weekend noticing every single positive thing your child does, even if it's small, like playing quietly for 10 minutes alone or picking up one toy when they leave 10 others out.

I know it takes some work up front, but it will save you and your child so much aggravation. It will build their confidence and I guarantee your child's behavior will change because they do want to please you Okay Now here's a cool one for changing behavior to get to the root of the issue and teach kids how their brains work So if you have our ADHD University program You'll you'll have a chart that comes with that and I have three columns and says three It's about three things happening inside our kids brains First column is about the need for order and structure. Our kids have very very busy

brains and so that's why they have this need for order and they'll control other people and situations. They control the outcome of the board game, cheat, change the rules of the game and quit. They carry acorns in their pockets, all those different things, anxiety comes there. Second column is about the need for brain stimulation. Many of your kids do not get enough blood flow to the brain, not enough dopamine, so the brain is physiologically under stimulated. It's why they're always seeking intense stimulation. It's why they tap pencils and fidget. It's why they argue with you. It's why they push their siblings buttons.

It's why they procrastinate. And then the third column is about many of our kids have sensory processing needs and they're either hyposensitive where they really need physical pressure. And so if you know that, you know that your kids aren't just being, when they're bouncing all over things, it's not just being wild and out of control. They're seeking sensory pressure. And if you can give that to them proactively, it's really settling for their bodies. And some of your kids are hyper sensitive. So they're really sensitive to sounds, to sights, to smells. And so if you know this about them, you can proactively meet a lot of these needs.

Think about this. Here's the analogy. So it's late afternoon, your kids are acting up and just saying, hey, cut the behavior out. Stop acting out. Nothing changes. But if you give them a snack, because you fed them inside, their outward behavior changes because you first met the internal need.

So this is a great gift to know in life about why you're behaving in certain ways. I think it's one of the things, Casey mentions this all the time. He's like, dad, I process this in my daily life of like what need am I meeting now? His big, big one is for brain stimulation and physical sensory stuff. That's why he does ski mountaineering and skis climbs up mountains and then skis down is because that needs a sensory need. And he also needs at times when he's tired,

he has a high need for order. So he is able to manage his life and it even helps him in his marriage and relationships, knowing, hey, here's the need I have now. And so if I meet that internal need proactively, then I'm not as much of a jerk. And that's more of my words, that's how I do it. So Casey used to come into the room

with these eyes on fire, wanting to push my buttons, and that's because I taught him by my reactions that the easiest way for him to get the intense emotional reaction engagement from me was to do something wrong or misbehave. I basically trained his brain to seek this in negative ways, and your kids are gonna do it,

strong-willed kids, adopted kids, kids with attachment disorder, attachment issues are going to struggle with that. So I remember exactly where we were. We were living in Nashville at the time and he walked in the living room with that look in his eyes wanting to go into the courtroom and argue with me and I said, I know exactly what you're looking for right now. Your brain is craving intensity. I'm not going to argue with you, but here are two things we can do and I'll give you my intense emotional engagement, all my attention if you want. What I was teaching him has been invaluable to him to this day. So you can use that when siblings

are picking on each other because they just want that intensity that comes from picking at each other, getting a reaction, wrestling, etc. So teach them why that feels good inside and how to get those same needs met in positive ways like building something outside, making money by doing chores for other people, running their own little business. So in many homes and classrooms, adults create behavior charts with rules and consequences for each misbehavior. But that focuses so much effort

on just getting good outward behavior. And the truth is, it doesn't work. Most of our strong will kids live on red, right? They go to school and within eight minutes they're already on red. So inside they're like, hey, if I'm gonna be on red today, may as well double down and make it a really bad day because I'm never getting too green.

So they just stop trying. but what if we switch this around and taught our kids something very powerful instead If you listen to the podcast, you know what I got for my birthday more cozy earth I'm not kidding when I say wearing this pullover I've got it on right now, is like wearing heaven. So Mrs. Calm got me Cozy Earth pajamas and she even saved 40% off at CozyEarth.com slash Calm with code calm. The only problem, I wear them half the day.

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I get to crawl into my buttery soft temperature regulating bamboo sheets. It's like sleeping on heavenly clouds Luxury should not be out of reach So visit CozyEarth.com and use my exclusive code CALM for 40% off best-selling sheets towels Pajamas and more be sure to tell them the CALM guy sent you It's my birthday and I want to feel great for many more of these birthdays. So I work out, I stay very active and I begin every single day with my AG-1. In the first 60 seconds of my day I get my daily dose of vitamins, minerals, pre and

probiotics and adaptogens to support my gut health and a healthy mood. So check out drinkag1.com slash calm. AG1 powers these podcast ideas because it helps me feel mentally sharp and it powers all those Instagram videos because it makes me feel energized. Plus my gut just feels calm and settled and regular. And that's why I've been partnering with AG1 for so long. I think you should try AG1 as well.

AG1 is offering new subscribers a free $76 gift when you sign up. You'll get a welcome kit, a bottle of D3 and K2, and 5 free travel packs in your first box. I love the travel packs. So, check out drinkag1.com slash com to get this offer. That's drinkag1.com slash com, and let's be healthy together. So I love, love, love this idea.

What if instead of a behavior chart, you created a trigger board or a trigger chart for your entire family, especially as your kids get older. So you can list each person's name at the top, you know, mom, dad, each child, and then one trigger each person struggles with. What does trigger you? What bothers you?

Makes you react, sets you off, ruins your sense of order and peace. See, when you take the lead on this, you're modeling humility and working on yourself because and you're normalizing. We all have triggers and it's not like it's not like it's a secret right like well should I admit I have triggers? Your kids already know it. Your Strong Will kids have revealed to you all of your triggers because they push your buttons you're like I didn't even realize I had that

trigger. So my trigger, you could say this, my trigger is when things are askew in the house and you can tell your kids why that bothers you so much. It may be something for your, from your childhood. Now you don't have to share trauma and horrify your kids, but you can explain why this bothers you. This physical feeling you feel in your body. How you typically react, which they know. And then most importantly, one or two ways you are going to begin responding differently to overcome this trigger. Hey, my trigger is being late. When I was a kid, we got yelled at a lot, even if we were on time. So when you guys move more slowly, have you noticed that I try to rush you?

Then what happens? You guys move more slowly and you're not rejecting me or my authority, you're rejecting my anxiety. So from now on, here is what I am going to practice doing instead. And it's not like sharing your triggers is going to surprise your kids because they already know.

So help them identify their trigger when plans change suddenly, when they don't get what they want, when they lose at games. See, you're normalizing. You're actually teaching your kids, hey, I know why this bothers you. Of course, last minute changes and plans bother you.

Of course they do. Everyone has triggers. And then teach and show them how to handle those triggers differently. Now look, your kids don't have to participate, but you're normalizing the fact that we all have triggers and you're modeling for them how to deal with their own issues. So they learn how to get to the root of it.

So think what we're doing instead of focusing on changing outward behavior, you are teaching your kids how to handle and overcome the inner triggers that cause the outward behavior. That is transformational. Look, this is more important than anything your kids are going to learn in school. I wish someone had taught me this before I was 35 and almost ruined all my relationships. So I really, really love that idea. So, how can we teach our kids impulse control?

So, impulse and self-control are skills you have to learn just like addition and subtraction. You've got to practice it. So, here are a few ways to practice impulse control. By the way, know that your kids should struggle with impulse control. They are supposed to be impulsive when they're kids. So don't get freaked out about that.

You're gonna get calls from the school of like, oh, your child is impulsive. That's like saying like, oh, your child has a lot of energy. Okay, I mean, that's kind of what kids are supposed to be like. You're not telling me anything new. So people laugh at this, but it works. When Casey was a kid, we'd go to Red Robin,

because back then Red Robin was kind of new, cool kind of place. And I'd ask, hey, how many fries are we going to leave on our plate tonight? And he'd look at me like I was crazy and ask like, why would you leave these delicious, greasy, salty fries on the plate? And then he'd add this, when there are children starving

in third world countries, because our kids are quick like that. And I'd I'd say well just to show that we can. It was a concrete way of physically practicing impulse control. We would walk into a store and be mesmerized by all the cool gadgets right like at Best Buy and then walk out without buying anything. We had a family tradition or a family rule, which is any big purchases, we wait 48 hours because you know what you find out when you're there looking at it and it's like, I want that.

Once you leave and you wait 24 hours, 48 hours, sometimes that desire goes away or you can be a little bit more rational about it, but we would do that we physically did that and I remember when we were looking things or going for a car or somewhere and a guy would be like Well, you know what this deal isn't gonna last and I was like, yeah Well, because if I really want this and you want to sell it to me and so I was teaching a really practical life skill That's delayed Gratification and it's a really important skill. Sometimes with Casey, and again, you don't have to do this. It's dorky. It's awkward. Your kids are going to complain. They're going to be

like, why are we doing this? This is stupid. Who cares? I promise you it is worth it. I promise you it is worth it. I would at times say, hey, I want you to wait 45 seconds or three minutes before you do X or Y. And I purposefully just kind of make him wait. Why? Because you're practicing impulse control. I'd encourage you to teach your kids

delayed gratification with their screens. Give you an idea. Hey, tonight, I'm going to give you one hour to play on your video games. But if you turn your video games off three minutes early tonight, because that's doable, I'll give you an additional 10 minutes

to play tomorrow night. So the calculation is, if I sacrifice three minutes of game time tonight, I can get 10 more minutes tomorrow night. Okay, and you can make the ratio whatever you want. Now, some of your kids are going to get off like six minutes early and then they're going to be like, you owe me 20 minutes tomorrow night. And sometimes you can be like, you know what? I'll do that with you. Good thinking. When Casey was older, I'd encourage him to turn his games off after three matches instead of four.

It was all about delayed gratification and practicing impulse control. Now, this one skews a little bit younger. Because our kids tend not to respond to auditory commands and lectures, I like using visual experiential lessons to reinforce key concepts. So get a really soft squishy ball and you could write the word choice on it. Whenever your child is about to make a choice, or even like even throw a tantrum, have a meltdown, or argue, or whine, or try to get out of taking responsibility, you can toss or hand the choice ball to your child

and say, hey, Evan, I want you to throw the ball up in the air and catch it three times while you think about the choice you're going to make. And you can use one or several of the following phrases as you explain this concept to your child. See, I'm giving you control of this situation. The ball is in your court. You are responsible for how you respond. You are responsible for your attitude. Your choices affect your outcome, right? The decision is out of my hands. You have the power to control

the outcome. Outcome. And over time you can use fewer prompts and simply hand the ball to your child. What you're doing is physically handing over responsibility for behaviors, attitudes, and actions to your child. And your child will begin to realize just how much control they have over their lives and it's helpful for us as parents because you're symbolically showing that you're not responsible for your child's actions. They are the act of throwing the ball in the air three times, teaches them that they do not have to make the choice immediately. They can take five seconds and think about it.

You're giving them a tactile object to manipulate, which is both calming and stimulating at the same time. Because you'll know that we did this in our home with all the kids that were there and you'd notice them like squeezing it. Sometimes I give them two so they can kind of squeeze that. So sometimes feeling the ball in their hands will break the negative cycle and calmer redirect them. You can even try this with your spouse before you tell him or her some bad news.

And I know some of the kids are going to be so upset they throw the ball at you. And that's why I want it to be soft. You can use anything tactile. You could use Kleenexes. You could do anything because that wouldn't hurt if they threw it. One of my favorite things to do when we had these kids in our home was tell them, hey, tomorrow, we're going to Best Buy. So bring your money and we go to the store and we let them walk around and it's like

electronic candy. They'd be so excited and grab all these video games to purchase visions of sleepless nights playing games were dancing in their heads. And then I'd say, hey guys, put all your stuff back, we're leaving. Needless to say, there was a lot of outrage, shock and screaming. No, we haven't paid for our games yet.

And I said, I know, we're leaving, let's go now. But Mr. Kirk, I really wanted that new game. I know you did. That's what impulse control and self-control is. When you really want something and you say no and walk away. And we'd leave the store and we'd stand outside. And I'd be like, so how are you guys feeling? And of course it was the end of the world, right?

This is stupid. This is the dumbest camp ever. Where do you get these dumb ideas? But I wanted them to feel those games in their hands, picture playing them, and then put them down and walk away. I wanted them to physically practice it with something tactile. And so over time they learned how to say no and walk away, right? And they learned to own their own boredom and disappointment because they would say this is the stupidest thing and disappointment because they would say,

this is the stupidest thing. And then I'd say, hey, look, you guys, look, if I were you, I would be upset at me. I would be frustrated and I'd be really mad because you thought you were gonna buy these things and then we didn't. And so I said, but you guys have a choice because we still have the rest of the afternoon together.

You can continue to be miserable and bored if you want, but you have a choice over that. So work through this and when you're ready we can do X and Y. So some kids struggle with blurting out in the classroom. We give them say three talk tickets, three little pieces of cardboard maybe or little tickets, and every time they want to share something instead of blurting out they have to raise their hand and redeem a ticket and the teacher says oh that's cool nice job raising your hand why don't you go ahead and share your amazing off-topic idea because it always will be but it gives them a tangible object to hold and raise in the air and when they get down to one ticket left, they have to start making choices about what's important

enough to share with the class. So I encourage you work on some of those things. The easy one, the next two days, this weekend, the next three days, the next week, affirm your kids for what they're already doing well. I would encourage you start working on that trigger board even if you just start with your spouse and say, hey what's your trigger? What's my trigger? Will you help me with that? That is fantastic and begin in small ways practicing impulse control. Let your kids listen to this

podcast so they can come up with their own ideas and they will tell you, yes, mom, dad, I never hear enough. What I'm doing well, you're always saying, but if you tried harder, let them listen to our material, the programs. These ideas come from that discipline that works program. I have so many good testimonials from families who just said, guys, you listen to this one on discipline because it affects you. And then the kids come back and say, hey, here's what would work and here's what isn't working. And you discuss it as a family. These are great conversations that have moms and dads. You're crushing it.

You have so much respect for you. Keep breaking those generational patterns. It is such a cool thing. All right. Love you all. We'll talk to you soon. Bye bye.