Sunday, February 20, 2011

Following Directions

Lately, Mr C's favorite phrases are, "Can you do me a favor?" and "Hold your horses Mom." I love it. Even though, he is usually saying hold your horses when I ask him to do something. I try to hide my amusement and make him follow through on the request. Then he usually says, "Can you do me a favor? Can you ...?" (whatever I just asked). I don't think so. So, I persist and finally he says, "Fine, Mom!" and does it.

We have been learning that the first 5 years of life should be entirely focused on getting children to follow directions. I think once a child can master this skill, the other desirable behaviors will fall into place. If you wait until they are older to focus on it, then you have a very difficult time getting them to follow through because they start to become bigger than you!

With the use of positive reinforcement and some logical consequences for not following directions, he has been getting better everyday. So, there is hope!

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