honestly if you explain to kids WHY you’re forbidding them from something, they listen so much more. For ex: my brother was told he can only be on the ps4 for 1 hr, and naturally was really upset ab it and nobody was explaining the whyness of this rule

He was crying and super upset, so I explained things to him super basically how he’s young so his brain isn’t fully developed, how addiction to gaming is a real thing, how our parents are trying to protect him, what effects television have on eyesight (he wears glasses) etc

& by the end of it, he was smiling & totally okay, & even thanked my parents and I for protecting him and that he understood the feeling of anger he was getting COULD stem from addiction and that he wants to fix that. Allah humma barik lahu.

But it only took 5 mins to explain & the effects of it are prob way more long lasting than saying “I said no so I said no”, or “this is a rule, u live under my roof”. He understood the wisdom behind the rule, & was way more willing to understand it + his respect for us increased

we tend not to explain the reasonings behind things bc we feel as though kids shld just respect our authority or that the child wont understand. But most concepts u can childify in some way so that they’ll understand & this way theyll be able to make smart choices even when alone

also it’s important to listen to the childs concerns as well. I feel, siblings especially tend to be like “shut up youre stupid” etc, but if you have younger siblings/it’s your child, validate their feelings first and then explain why they’re feeling that way + why u made a rule

I know my little brother always appreciates when we hear his side of the story first, before making a judgement and comfort him when he cries as well to let him know that it’s ok to feel sad, but that he has to respect authorative decisions and that they’re made out of wisdom

I wanted to mention, adding a religious element REALLY helps as well. My bro & I personally have this thing where if he starts getting angry, I say “Who is the strongest man?”& he replies “the one who controls his anger” (sahih bukhari 6114). obvs the importance was pre-explained

but then we take steps to cool down one’s anger found in the sunnah like saying the isti’adha, laying down etc etc. But it really helps to bring Allah (swt), Prophetic advice and sunnah into things, with evidence obvs. You’d be surprised how seriously kids take it SubhanAllah