Karen’s Crash Course in Kids Part 3 – Appreciate

This solution is to Appreciate.

We’re all going to have those moments when our child’s behaviour is more like Horrid Henry than Peter Pan; some of us more often than others. Of course it’s our job to set them straight. But, surprisingly, one of the best ways to do it is to focus on the things they do right instead of the things they do wrong.

Here’s why:
We all know one of the main reasons children misbehave is to get our attention. That’s because they want our attention more than anything.
Seriously, they’d rather we’re annoyed with them, than we ignore them.

So don’t fall into the trap! Give them attention when they’re well-behaved instead. That way they’ll keep being well-behaved to get our attention!

Easier said than done. We can’t help but notice the bad manners, irrational outbursts and the trail of mess they stroll along behind them.
The good things they do aren’t so easy to see. But if we keep looking, eventually we’ll spot something.

When we shine a positive light on our children, Appreciating them for who they are and all the good things they do, it encourages them to further do the right thing. So we can actually prevent a lot of bad behaviour from happening.

Then we can start to realise we aren’t doing so badly after all!