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| Caring for Young Children | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Prevention – the Best Way to Discipline
Just as flossing and brushing your teeth can help prevent an expensive and sometimes painful trip to the dentist, so can time, attention and a few parenting techniques help prevent unpleasant behavior in young children.
Weather permitting, one of the best things you can do is offer plenty of outside time for highly active play. Take that CD player outside and have a dance party! And if the conditions outside keep you in the house, offer calming activities like play-doh, water play or story time.
Make sure you have a quiet calming place if your
child gets overwhelmed by the day – and make sure the child knows
about it
before
s/he loses control!
A
corner next to a bubbling fish tank, a child-sized rocking chair
next to the bookshelf or even a ‘secret’ spot under a table away
from the hubbub, can all help a child maintain self-control. Other
easy-to-use prevention techniques include:
· Maintain a consistent schedule and routine
· Give children a 10-minute warning for transitioning to another activity. “In ten minutes we will need to put our jackets on and go to the store.”
· Be ready – don’t make them wait. Avoid “in a minute”.
· Trust children with responsibilities such as preparing and serving meals, clean-up, or other valuable jobs
· There is nothing wrong with feelings, but you can help children label them. “You seem mad…”
· Instead of just saying “use your words”, give the child specific words to use such as “I want to play with the truck too”
· If you know a situation has been difficult for a child in the past (such as sharing with baby sister), stay close to help facilitate good choices
· Catch them being good and tell them exactly what it is and give them ownership of it. “You must be proud of yourself; you waited patiently for a turn instead of grabbing the doll.”
· And most importantly – be a good role model!