Article Contributed on: 3/12/2007 11:33:34 PM
If you have small children around the house, you know that sooner or later you're going to encounter some behavior from them that's not exactly welcome. This usually happens sooner than they're awake and by then, it's later than you know...
The important thing about these events is how the parents handle them. If the child is doing something that you'd really like them never do again and especially not in public - say, using a swear word, for example, (not that they'd learn one around YOUR house) - the last thing you want to do is to make a big deal out of it. Or worse yet, laugh.
Of course the other extreme is something like, playing with matches. THAT you'd want to make a big deal out of, hide the matches and maybe even arrange for some therapy.
Thankfully, most problem behavior is much more benign and can be handled quite simply through something the experts call, "diversion." Simply stated, you present the child with another activity designed draw them away from what they're doing. Hitting the dog? Give them some Tupperware to bang on. Trying to break into a cabinet they're not supposed to be in? Hand them a truck. Drawing on their younger brother? Make sure it's a really cool design.
But if you get involved in distracting the child, just remember this: small children
love repetition. To them, the same thing can be funny over and over and over - long after the parent is tired of it.. So think twice before you catch your children's attention by hitting youself on the head with an empty soda bottle.
Too many hours of that could cause some serious brain damage...
Chris Stone is a slight;y different - hopefully better - Father and man than he was yesterday...