All children misbehave; after all they don’t call it the
“terrible twos” for nothing. But how do you know when you child
is merely displaying typical though exasperating bad behavior,
or is exhibiting the signs of a deeper behavioral problem? We
all have stress and believe it or not children can have very
stressful lives, and their reaction to stress is often what we
may perceive as a behavioral problem. So before you hit the
panic button, see if there is anything in your child’s life that
has changed recently that can increase stress. Have you recently
moved? Has your child started in a new school, or new class? Has
a newborn just arrived? The birth of a sibling can often cause a
child to regress developmentally, to act younger or to otherwise
go back to a behavior pattern you thought they “grew out of”
like bed wetting for instance. When do you know when there might
be a true behavioral problem worthy of concern? Behavior issues
deserve a closer look when they are persistent enough and severe
enough to impa