Our goal is to help our kids get along with their whole class, not just the good friends they really like to talk to a school. We’ll also make sure they understand how to work more than they talk if they sit next to friends and how to use only nice words and actions with everyone in their class.
Team Up! Try these simple ideas to help your child want to talk.
Find your child when they’re busy playing. Get in their face playfully. Take their toy, laugh and run away. Make them have to stop what they’re doing because you’re not playing nice. Don’t break anything they’re building, of course, and have a smile on your face the whole time so that your child knows they are not being punished. Once you have their attention, it’s time to think about how to be good at working and playing well with others.
Our Target: We’re going to help our kids understand how to get through one task at a time by paying attention to all the instructions and then patiently working through all of them until the job is done.
Team Up! Try these simple ideas to help your child want to talk.
Just before you start making dinner one night, have your kids stop what they’re doing and come help you in the kitchen. Have all of the ingredients set out on the counter and ask them if they think you can just throw them all in a pot and stir (boxes, uncut veggies and all). Give a good laugh and tell them that most things in life come with instructions, from meals to homework…and if you are not patient with all the directions, dinner will be gross! Have your kids watch you make dinner while you talk about all the steps you’re doing. It’ll be good practice and great time together.
Our Target: Let’s teach our kids how to handle hearing “No” in the right ways. Our children need to know that everyone hears “No” all the time. Our kids need to handle their words, actions, and emotions in ways that wont be hurtful or embarrassing to themselves or others.
Team Up! Try these simple tips to help your child want to talk.
Find your child when they are playing with a favorite toy. Ask if you can have it to play with forever without giving back. Your child will most likely say “No” to you. When they do, wave your hands in the air and fall to your knees pretending to cry, showing your own fake temper-tantrum. Now that you have their attention, talk through how we need to stop the tantrums and handle eharing someone tell us “No” in the right ways.
Our Target: For our kids to grow into respectful adults we have to teach them what respect means. Let’s work on talking to our kids more about treating themselves, their friends, classmates, and other people in ways that will be appreciated. If we focus on helping our kids be respectful, they will earn the trust of others and will become repectable.
Team Up! Try these simple ideas to help your child want to talk.
JUST ASK: Your child has been told to respect their teacher and you tell them that they need to respect you all the time. Does your child know what that means? Ask your child to explain to you what they think respect means. Let them finish trying to find the words and talk it out, then continue talking about how we all need to respect ourselves and others.
Our Target: Let’s help our kids act politely with manners. If we teach our kids to be kind, how to appreciate others, and how to always consider the feelings of others we will be setting them up to have and keep friends now and in the future.
Team Up! Try these simlpe ideas to help your child want to talk.
FOCUS: Our kids always need something from us as their parents. Sometimes it’s help learning something or sometimes it’s helping them grab something that is on a shelf out of their reach. The next time your child asks for anything, really pay attention to whether or not they used manners. Did they say “Please”, or “Thank You”? If so, thank them for using manners and acting politely. If not, use this as a chance to correct them. Either way, you have their attention so it’s time to sit down and talk about why using manner is so important.
