What Is Mistaken Behavior

In my study of the guidance approach, I have learned to change my thinking of misbehavior. Before I thought if it wasn’t good behavior it must be misbehavior but with children it may be mistaken behavior. If children's behavior should be given a name, it should be considered Mistaken Behavior. The term misbehavior should be considered something adults do. Adults are supposed to know better, when they do something that is considered inappropriate. Children on the other hand do not know better, although we expect them to know better when they reach a certain age. “Traditional discipline punishes children for having problems they cannot solve, while guidance teaches children to solve their problems in socially acceptable ways (Gartrell, 2003)”.
This is when a child is motivated by his or her natural curiosity and becomes involved in an unintentional conflict by a new situation getting out of hand (due to lack of experience). The experimentation level is the beginning of the learning process where a lot of patience and guidance is the best approach in enhancing the child’s learning self-esteem and self-confidence with appropriate behaviors. For example, a child in one of the kindergarten classes I worked in drew a picture of an octopus on a wall with crayons. This child was experimenting and did not yet know the rules due to lack of experience, I remembered she got put in time out. After learning about the guidance approach, the situation could have been dealt with differently and someone could have patiently explained to her where it is okay to color and where it is
It’s when a child has had some experience in learning due to impressions or reinforced behaviors carried out by significant people in their lives. Sometimes it is as unintentional as social influences and may include cartoon characters superheroes from video games or television, along with parents, siblings, friends, neighbors, caregivers or teachers. My daughter told me a story about a child who was socially influenced. When she was baby-sitting at my husband’s work, there were four children and one child refused to share any toys or food, hogging everything to himself. When my daughter asked him to please share, he replied, “My mom says I don’t have to share anything because I’m first class”. This is an example of a child who was socially influenced by his mother. My daughter talked to his mother and they agree to talk to her kid to make sure that he understand the rules and they had a group meeting. “A child who uses an expletive in a classroom exactly as an adult would is showing a socially influenced mistaken behavior.(Gartrell, p.14,