IT'S normal for a child to behave badly when faced with certain situations but sometimes the behaviour can be hard to manage and that's where the Whitsunday Health Clinic comes in.

On Tuesday, July 26, the Clinic will hold a free Child Behavioural Seminar to help parents understand behaviour and provide alternate management strategies.

Jo Nightingale has been a Child Behavioural Consultant for 20 years and said she used assessment tools and then suggested alternate behaviours that served the same purpose for the child but were more appropriate.

"An example of this might be bed time. Tt's time for the child to go to sleep but they don't want to so they chuck a tantrum to escape going to bed," she said.

"To solve the issue you can say to them 'you can go to bed now or in 10 minutes' and that gives them options to choose from."

Ms Nightingale said she focused on teaching behaviours rather than controlling them.

"Children will do behaviour for a certain reason," she said.

"They may do it to escape a situation, the might do it to get something, they might do it because it feels good or because they want attention."

Naturopath of 10 years, Rowena Kissun, said a child's behaviour was a reaction to the situations they were in and a way of communicating.

"Sometimes these kids are highly sensitive and they're put in situations that they find hard to deal with," she said.

"They're in child care all day and they've got to be picked up, they get rushed through dinner, their parents are stressed and they can feel it so they're going to act up.

"They don't have the words to say they're feeling stressed or anxious."

For more information visit http://www.facebook.com/whitsundayhealthclinic or contact the clinic on 4946 7910.

SEMINAR

What: Child Behavioural Seminar

When: Tuesday, July 26, 5pm

Where: Whitsunday Health Clinic

Cost: Free