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| Image courtesy of themojocompany.com. |
Once upon a
time in a foreign land called parenthood a mom (me) discovered that kids live
on a planet all their own. There is sometimes a language barrier between what a
parent says to kids and how kids interpret what they hear.
Below are
statements made to children and a view of their interpretation of the statements.
You say: If you don’t clean your room I’m
going to make you stay home from football practice.
Child hears: Yes! Now I don’t
have to run a million laps during practice.
You say: If you can’t keep
your bed made, maybe you don’t need a bed.
Child hears: I like sleeping on
the floor. My sleeping bag hasn’t been used in a while.
You say: You tell a
misbehaving child, “Go to your room.”
Child hears: Ok, I can play the
Wii/Xbox, watch TV.
You say: When issuing a punishment you say, “This
is gonna hurt me more than it hurts you.”
Child hears: Ummm, I don’t think
so.
Along my
travels through parenthood I’m learning that giving clear, specific directions
to my kids helps both of us to be less frustrated. It also gets us a little
closer to our happily ever after.
As we’ve all
discovered, everyone learns differently. Some people are auditory learners
while others are visual. I have one of each in my boys. I can verbally tell one
son a list of three things to do and he’ll get them done. Slowly, but he will
get them done.
My other son
is more of a visual learner. He has to have a written list of his tasks and he
may forget where he put the list before it’s completed. Everyday is a different ecperience. In our house we function somewhere between Once upon a time and Happily ever after.
