What is the right thing to do when a child argues with a adult?

Question

My seven year old grandaughter argues with me about everything and says i am wrong. my son says i should not argue with because then i become like a child. i say i need to correct her thinking so she learns how to interact more appropriately .

Answer 1

I am guessing that this is your son's daughter.   If this is the case then your son should be the one to stop his daughter from arguing with you.   He should end it right away and explain to her that she should respect her grandmother.   What is happening now is that you are being made the bad person and that is wrong.   She has so much to gain by listening to your wisdom.   You need to talk to your son and he needs to start being the father and acting like it.

Answer 2

Do not argue with a child. Send her to a time out space if she is being disrepectful.

Answer 3

You can let her state her opinon. Then let her know if you agree or not. As long as she isn't raising her voice or being snotty. Sometimes a child must do what the adult states no matter what. Then other times there is room to include their idea/suggestion as well.

Answer 4

Let her speak and see if she makes any sense. If not, tell her that children are seen and not heard in black and white photographs.

Answer 5

back slap her in the mouth. that would show her that she should never be fresh to you again or else she gets smacked!

Answer 6

Use sarcasm.  That works well with kids.  That's why I'm so god d**n happy now.

Answer 7

I have a 7 year old who likes to argue also.  I will allow discussion of different thinking, but not back talking.  If she back talks she gets corrected with a "what did you say?  Yes Ma'am?  Great, that's what I thought you said."  I refuse to "argue" with my children, but I will explain to them the reasons why I do things they way I do.  I allow them to have their own thoughts/opinions, but if they want to express them it had better be with respect.

Answer 8

ummm well my parents don't do anything, really. it's  a good feeling for me. i'm not bad or anything. i think i turned out okay. kind of depends.

Answer 9

I tell my son that I am the adult, that he is a child and he will not speak to me in that manner. He then gets to lose his privilege of speaking to me (unless its an emergency of course) for about 5 minutes and gets to ponder what he did wrong.  I really detest that children are not being taught how to properly interact with adults these days. While I want him to learn the value of standing up for what you believe there are appropriate ways to do it.

Answer 10

pop her in the mouth, and then send her to time out

Answer 11

ignore her until she can speak to you with respect then talk to her because it sounds like some adult has mistreated her in some way for her to disrespect you like that.or she hears it from someone else.

Answer 12

Does she argue or contradict? Teach her the difference between having a proper discussion and contradicting. Treat her like a person, not a "child".

Answer 13

Why?  What exactly are you getting out of it.  This is just a power struggle, and you don't actually have to engage in it.

If the sky is blue, it is blue and no amount of yelling at her that it is blue is going to change that.  

Let it go.  And respect your son as a parent.

Answer 14

Yea i say set her in her place, don't let her get away with it.

Answer 15

It's obvious that she enjoys pushing your buttons.  As long as she is not disrespectful you have to know when to choose your battles.