I’m a believer in teaching social skills. If you’ve checked out my ebook or ecourse, you already know that. I’m also a big fan of learning through play. No surprise, right?
Want to Give Your Kids an Advantage? Build Executive Functions
Every parent wants their kids to have the best shot at succeeding at whatever their chosen path may be. So we try to give them all of the right opportunities. Some go to tutors, buy complicated programs, or drill through flashcards, but one of the best predictors of success is one that can be regularly built through play.
What is Positive Guidance?
I have some bad news for some of you. There is no magical, easy, silver bullet approach to dealing with challenging childhood behaviors. If there was, there wouldn’t be shelves full of books on the topic in every book store and library. There would be one very short book and we would all have it memorized. There is no easy answer, but there is a series of attitudes and understandings and an assortment of tools and approaches, that we can choose from and use to address each individual challenging situation.
The Power of Choice
During the preschool years, children have a need to assert their independence. Giving them choices when it’s feasible feeds that need, and can stock up points in an account of sorts, to draw upon when choices are not negotiable. When children feel like they already have power, they are less likely to demand it through tantrums.
Think of the ways you can invite children to make their own choices. “Which barrette do you want to wear?” “Which center do you want to explore?” “Do you want 1, 2, or 3 apple slices?” Be careful when you’re phrasing the choice, to offer only those scenarios you are truly willing to accept. Don’t ask, “Which shoes do you want to wear?” if you are not willing to let him wear his plastic rain boots. Narrow down to only acceptable choices, two or three, therby giving him the choice of suitable options. Few things incur the wrath of a child like offering a choice, only to take it back.