4 ms·
Yeah I read a similar piece of advice recently to the effect "toddlers hear a lot of No. Limit the No and when possible offer them a qualified yes instead." So
by mherdeg 8y ago
Yeah I read a similar piece of advice recently to the effect "toddlers hear a lot of No. Limit the No and when possible offer them a qualified yes instead."
Something like:
* Can I eat another banana?
* After we go for a walk, you can eat another banana.
Apparently another important part of the parenting process is consistency -- if you promise "after X, we will Y" you should do it or explain why not / what changed.
- jeffdavis 8y agoI think promises to children should generally be rare and meaningful, not just thrown around. The conditions always change with children. If you already promise ice cream and then the kids start behaving badly, what can you do? You either get into threatening mode ("no ice cream for you then!") or break your promise or you put up with it. Furthermore the kids don't even enjoy it unless it's unexpected. As soon as they feel entitled to the ice cream, they are more likely to argue about who has more than to just smile and eat it.
- xorcist 8y agoI have anecdotally found this true as well. Toddlers and small children have a terrible working memory. It really is what's limiting their ability to count, speak coherently etc. Promises often needs to be repeated to stick. Therefore they need to be made meaningful. Making promises about a banana when working memory have purged that information five minutes later just makes promising stuff pretty empty (for really small children, that is).