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I am always amazed by how much a 1 year old
understands. This mom has a 1 year old
and a 4 year old. She had told me that
the one year old is able to open the front door even when it is locked and that
he keeps climbing up onto the kitchen counter and that this morning he
fell. Other concerns she had were that
her husband is not patient with their sons and in her opinion he mistreats
them. So much so, that they don't want
to be with him. Her other concern is
that the preschool is telling her that her 4 year old yells and throws things
and doesn't listen.
While there, the 1 year old got up onto the counter. I ran to the kitchen, told him his mom does
not want him to get up on the counters, took him down, opened the kitchen door
to the patio and told him he had to sit on steps until I counted to 10. He sat there looking up at me, confused, with
a look that said "what's the big deal?" When the counting was over, I told him he
could come in now and that if he got up there again, he would have to sit on
the steps again. I explained to the mom
that making it seem like it was a really big deal/offense was part of the
strategy. It, of course, also requires
that you ACT. You have to get up and do
something.
There are many reasons why we need to teach our kids to
obey. Here are a few that come to mind
from this encounter with this mom:
·
you will avoid having to go to the ER! Falling from the counter is dangerous!!
·
your husband will not be so exasperated with
your sons...they will know you mean it when you say something
·
your child will not be labeled in preschool or
kindergarten as a "bad" kid -
when our kids get labeled as bad kids, I would say most of the time, it's
because they don't know how to obey.
I believe kids are smart!
They will understand you...and they do want to please you.
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