Toddler Tips

Anyone tired of their kids hitting other kids . . . or you, for that matter? For some reason kids have this urge to hit you in the face (my daughter’s done this since she was a baby, maybe it’s because I wear glasses, who knows…)

 

But after I got tired of saying “GENTLE HANDS” every five minutes, I came up with this jingle:

Hands are for: HELPING, HUGGING, and HIGH FIVES!

And lucky you, I’ve made it into a free poster for you to print and hang on the fridge or wherever else you’d like 😉

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I came up with this jingle (put it to whatever tune you want) because I wanted to teach her what her hands were really for. God didn’t give us hands to hurt, but to help others, show love to others, and encourage one another.

While there is a time that our hands are for hitting (like if you’re being kidnapped) I teach this later in a separate conversation.

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Also Friendly Service Announcement . . .

When you’re correcting children, you’ll have better results if you tell them WHAT TO DO vs WHAT THEY NEED TO STOP doing.

For example say “Walk please” vs “STOP running” or “Quiet mouths please” vs “Stop yelling.”

Why do this?

You see in the moment, it’s hard for children to process the “STOP” part of “STOP running.” You’re asking them to quickly think “ok so they want me to stop something what do they want me to stop, oh the yelling, so the opposite of yelling is being quiet, so they want me to be quiet, ok I can be quiet” and then they stop yelling.

Versus, if you say “Quiet mouths please” all children have to think about is “Oh they want me to be quiet, I can do that” and they quiet down.

I’m not saying changing up the wording will help them to comply more, but I am saying you’re making it a few steps easier so that’s got to count for something right?!

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What are some ways you help support your child’s behavior in what
they should do vs not do?