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Behavior Information |
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The Know-It-All
Action: Why is my child behaving this way, what unmet needs does he or she have, and what specific things can I do to help him or her behave better?
- Primary Causes of Misbehavior
- Attention
This person draws a lot of attention by demonstrating his or her knowledge.
- Power
Knowledge is power, but the use of such power can cause resentment from other children and adults.
- Primary Needs Being Revealed
- Gender/Identity
This child uses his or her knowledge to attempt to establish relationships with peers and adults.
- Secondary Needs Being Revealed
- Gregariousness
This child has a strong need to belong to a group and is using his or her knowledge to establish relationships.
- Achievement
The child has a need to demonstrate his or her knowledge.
- Power
Using his or her knowledge to help other children, or to help the parent in activities, would provide this child a positive form of power.
- Status
The use of knowledge lets people know he or she is "somebody."
- Autonomy
The ability to obtain knowledge provides independence for this child.
- Study this child carefully before selecting a technique to change the behavior. From an examination of the primary and secondary needs, it can be noted that the know-it-all is many different persons.
- Remember, this child is likely to be very intelligent. Therefore, approach him or her from an intellectual point of view. Talk about the fact that the best minds need to be leaders of people.
- There's one way your child doesn't want to appear to anyone—dumb. This is the key to getting the child to listen to you. Tell him or her it's not very smart to do things that turn people off. Say, "There's one thing that an intelligent person knows—how to relate to people."
- Your child will accept what you are telling him or her, but will need help with practical examples and suggestions. Explain that the child must work at taking other people's ideas and experiences as seriously as his or her own.
- Explain that the child has made a mistake in not seeing how other people respond to his or her behavior. By seeing the advantages of working with others rather than against them, the child's intellect will help him or her resolve this problem because of the strong need for acceptance.
- Allow this child to be a helper, and give him or her jobs.
- Give this child special projects to work on.
- Motivate this child to run for a class office or other positions in extracurricular groups or student council.
- Don't be afraid to admit what you don't know. Be a good example in this way.
- Show this child the effect of his or her attitude and how others feel about this behavior.
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