Just for a moment, imagine that you’ve spent the whole day with someone who criticized everything you did, nagged at you constantly and barked out endless orders. By the end of the day, how would you feel? Would you feel much like listening…or cooperating?
Well, kids feel the same way! In fact, children who are criticized too much are very likely to feel discouraged and defeated. Criticism often leads to more misbehavior, which then provokes more criticism…which leads to more misbehavior.
Not exactly the result you were wishing for! By focusing on everything your child is doing wrong, you can actually create the opposite of what you really want!
One of the secrets to getting your kids to listen is to decide which things are really, really important and then to overlook the rest of the small stuff. You can actually make your job as a parent much easier if you keep the negative comments and nagging to a minimum.
Just as experiment for the next week, keep as many of your negative comments to yourself. Then watch what happens. Your kids will probably be more likely to listen to the things you DO say!
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