Thursday, February 26, 2009

What happens when you aren't specific with kids

Tonight, while I was putting Brother (my son) to bed, Sister (my daughter) and Daddy (my husband) sat in the living room. Daddy was working on taxes while Sister wrote on a pad of paper. Apparently, she started to write on her leg, so Daddy told her not to write on her leg. That's when he stopped paying attention. Once I came out, she had pen all over her face.

What's the moral of the story? Children need specificity. She obeyed. After Daddy told her not to, she did not write on her leg. But he ever said anything about her face.

Next time, we will tell her don't color on your leg or face. Or arms. Or couch. And don't spit on the dog (not that she has ever tried to spit on the dog, but perhaps it would be good to cover all of our bases).

1 comment:

  1. Oh yes. I have learned this too. Writing on himself (I stuck with-- we write on paper and ONLY on paper) and standing on chairs (um, chair, couch, whatever, but not the same thing to a 2 year old) have been two of our lessons.

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