What do you do when your baby begins to use new teeth to bite you or someone else? Biting hurts! So how do you make it stop? You’ve tried saying, “No!” You’ve tried distracting her. But nothing’s worked. What do you do now?
Without a doubt, biting another person is unacceptable, on this planet, anyway. We’re aghast, whether it’s our babe or another whose flesh and feelings get injured, whether we’ve witnessed it or heard tales. And flummoxed dismay brings up lots more than children’s tears.
This season of giving prompts us to begin our look at a tool that’s available to any parent who wants it. It’s the perfect gift to give yourself at holiday time . . . or anytime.
Let’s find out how and why this gift not only keeps on giving to you; it also gives to your child, the entire family, and to everyone within earshot of a whiner.
Let’s review your experiences with sing-songing this past month and then address more why’s and how’s for nipping whining in the bud.
Some of you reported an eagerness to try out sing-songing. Many shared enthusiasm for positive strategies. A couple parents shared stats collected around who pays attention to impromptu sing-songing: Kids do! And, they found, store employees and other fellow planet dwellers sent kudos to parents and others who work to end kids’ whining!
We find that whining, like biting behaviors, strikes a chord for many. As we wrap the topic this month, we’ll review your comments and then address more whine-nipping strategies. First, though, note whining’s self-reflective nature: one could whine ad nauseam about its effect on us. Ha!
How to Ask About Your Child’s Day
Ask open-ended questions with purpose, such as:
“What kind words did you hear today?”
How to Help Your Child Be a Reader
Put age-appropriate books, newspapers, magazines next to your ready-reader––beside the toilet.
Here’s how to handle it at home or in your classroom.
While ushering your child to the bathroom, say:
“Oh, I see you need some privacy to do that. You can use toilet paper for your nose in private. When you’re all done, just come on out.”
Reading Head Start: Housing Your Child’s Library
Put a box or basket of books in every room and in the bathroom.
Why whisper when you’re reading aloud to your child today?
Use your whispering voice to read every other page of a picture book or board book. Your child will enjoy hearing and mimicking your performance. But much more is going on here.
Wanna learn how to spin straw into gold? Let’s say this particular handful of straw is a board book, like SO BIG!
Once you’ve repeatedly read and sung this book, your child and you know every animal’s name and its relative size by heart. ‘Tis time to begin the spinning!
I’m all ears when I hear an adult explaining how a little one can’t really read but thinks he can. “He just knows the story,” the adult says. And I say, “Yay! Yay! Yay!” This adult has done one of the most important jobs a parent does . . . reading the same book again and again until the child knows the story.
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© 2024 Babsy B.
